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FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 



FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

or 

The Christian Pulpit 
in War-Time 

ADDRESSES 
BY 

Rev. RANDOLPH H. McKIM, D.D.,LL.D.,D.C.L. 

RECTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Pro Deo, pro Civifate, pro hominum salute 




NEW YORK 
E. P. DUTTON b' COMPANY 

68 1 FIFTH AVENUE 



...V ,A' 



Copyright, 1918, 
By E. p. DUTTON &• COMPANY 



'CI.A5(J3299 



SEP -6 1318 



Printed in the United States of America 



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PREFACE 

Of the Addresses which this volume contains all 
but two were delivered before the United States 
decided to enter the War. They are now pub- 
lished at the solicitation of friends upon whose 
judgment I rely, because the principles they em- 
body still need to be emphasized; and also be- 
cause they furnish proof of a fact that ought not 
to be forgotten, — namely, that the Christian Church 
did not wholly fail to discern the true significance 
of the War as an assault upon Liberty and Democ- 
racy everywhere, and, did not hesitate to urge, 
nearly two years before America declared war, that 
our policy should not be governed by counsels 
of timidity and international opportunism, but by 
a steadfast regard to the ideals handed down to 
us by our Revolutionary ancestors; by fidelity to 
the principles enshrined in our Constitution; by a 
brave determination to vindicate the honor and 
majesty of the Republic; above all, by loyalty to 
justice — that justice which is the basis of all true 
civilization. 

Doubtless these Addresses are typical of many 
utterances of the Christian pulpit throughout the 



vi PREFACE 

land, and they may serve to exonerate the Church 
from the charge that in the greatest tragedy of 
human history she was content to sit by the fire 
warming herself. 

It is not without significance of the temper that 
prevailed in official circles in Washington, that 
when the second of these utterances was made 
public a friend of the author who occupied a not 
unimportant position in the State Department wrote 
in vigorous remonstrance against the position 1 
had taken (in Nov., 191 5). He defended the sinking 
of the Lusitania, because it was *^an enemy ship;" he 
declared that our diplomacy had scored a signal 
success, and that Germany had abandoned sub- 
marine warfare ; that intervention would involve the 
abandonment of our traditional policy of non-in- 
terference in European affairs, and that, as to the 
Teutonic embassies being nests of conspiracy 
against our domestic peace, there was not a shred of 
evidence on which such a charge could be supported. 

It is needless to point out that we now know that 
the embassies of Germany and Austria were much 
more deeply and damnably guilty than my words 
implied; but it is passing strange if no perception 
of their guilt had dawned upon the minds of the 
officials of the State Department. The public mind 
at any rate was not so blind to the facts. 

I append an extract from one of the letters re- 



PREFACE vii 

ferred to above. It is from the pen of a well 
known writer and critic, Rev. G. Monroe Royce, 
Rector at New Windsor on the Hudson, N. Y., au- 
thor of 'The Passing of the American," 'The Son 
of Amram," "The Note-Book of an American Par- 
son in England," etc. 

"My Dear Dr. McKim : 

I write to urge you to publish some of your War-time 
Addresses, first on account of their intrinsic worth, and 
second in order to place on record the fact that the 
Episcopal Church in America, through you, so long Presi- 
dent of its House of Deputies, has occupied a foremost 
place in the ranks of the clear-eyed, stout-hearted, pa- 
triots who saw in the outrage of Belgium and the sink- 
ing of the Lusitania, the acts of a hostile government 
whose ambition was universal conquest, and whose meth- 
ods were immoral, ruthless and barbaric. You were 
among the first Americans to warn your countrymen 
that they would sooner or later have to reckon with the 
gigantic military power of Germany, and that the sooner 
America took her place by the side of Democratic France 
and her Allies, the sooner would the merciless, conscience- 
less power of Prussia be broken. Some of us — I speak 
of myself in particular, — were for 'Peace at any price,' 
and denounced all preparation for war as the surest means 
of bringing about war. I went so far as to challenge 
the National Security League to a public debate. Now I 
see that at the bottom of my plea for peace there was 
an unconscious sympathy with Germany; and I believe 
that if every pacifist would analyze his thoughts, he would 
find the same to be true in his own case." 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I The National Crisis i 

II National Opportunity and Responsi- 
bility II 

III The "Lusitania" Anniversary ... 25 

IV A Lesson in Preparedness from Recent 

English History 42 

V America's Stewardship 50 

VI Isaiah's Counsel in a Great National 

Crisis 67 

VII America Summoned to A Holy War . . 79 

VIII The Duty of the Hour 96 

IX God's Call TO America no 



FOR GOD 
AND COUNTRY 



THE NATIONAL CRISIS* 

A DISCUSSION OF THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF WAR 

"Jesus answered, . . . 'If my Kingdom were of 
this world, then would my servants fight.'' — ^John 
XVIII, 36 

When Jesus and his disciples came down from 
the mount where he had been gloriously transfigured 
before them, he found awaiting him in the plain a 
sorrowful scene of human sickness and trouble — a 
heartbroken father with his demoniac boy praying 
in agonized tones for help. 

So it is with us to-day, my brethren. We have 
been standing on the Mount of Olives beholding 
the glorious ascension of our Lord into heaven, 
and the church has been teaching us to pray that 

* Delivered in the Church of the Epiphany, Washing- 
ton, D. C, May 17, 1915. 

I 



2 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

we may in heart and mind thither ascend with Him, 
and be at last exalted unto the same place whither 
our Saviour Christ has gone before. 

And now we come down from the mount and find 
ourselves confronted by a national crisis, big with 
most serious anxiety. Ten days ago an unspeak- 
able crime against civilization and humanity was 
committed on the high seas, involving the death of 
more than a hundred American citizens, men, 
women and little children, a crime which has 
shocked the world and aroused the deep indignation 
of the American people. But indignation is not 
the only sentiment which has been aroused. With 
deep sorrow we see a great Empire committed by 
its rulers to a policy of fright fulness which re- 
pudiates all the obligations of civilization and 
morality and international law, and shocks the 
conscience of mankind. 

As we contemplate the spectacle our prayer goes 
up to God that even the German people may rise 
up and condemn this awful deed done in its name. 
A most serious question, however, confronts us as 
members of the Christian Church. What should be 
our attitude as Christian men in this supreme crisis? 
Our President has given utterance with dignity, 
with wonderful self-restraint, with firmness, and 
yet in a friendly spirit to the deep indignation felt 
by the American people at a series of violations 
of the rights of our peojple, culminating in this 



THE NATIONAL CRISIS 3 

unspeakable deed of wholesale murder on the high 
seas. He has asked that the German government 
disavow responsibility for this awful outrage, and 
give us assurance that it shall not be repeated. But 
what if this demand be refused? We do not want 
war, but still less do we want national dishonor. 
Let us hope and pray that another alternative may 
be possible. But if, in the end, in spite of all hon- 
orable effort to avoid war, it shall be forced upon 
us, what in that event should be the attitude of the 
Christian church? There are many, as you know, 
who urge that war is never justifiable under any 
circumstances, and that the followers of the Prince 
of Peace should never give countenance to war — 
should never support it by voice or vote or personal 
participation. 

This is the question which I wish to consider 
briefly this morning. 

I. Now in the first place I ask you to take note 
of the words of Christ which I have taken for my 
text. He said to Pontius Pilate, "If my kingdom 
were of this world then would my servants fight." 
But his kingdom was not of this world, it was a 
spiritual kingdom, and therefore they would not 
fight to establish it. On the other hand, if it had 
been a worldly kingdom, a civil government. His 
servants in that case would not hesitate to employ 
the agency of war. This surely is a recognition 
that in the worldly sphere, in the sphere of the 



4 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

governments of this world, war may sometimes 
be necessary. 

2. Again I call your attention to the fact that 
history presents innumerable examples of men filled 
with the Spirit of God, evidently anointed with the 
Holy Ghost, who have at the same time been 
.faithful soldiers in the armies of their country. 
Next Sunday is Whitsunday — the great feast of the 
Holy Spirit, the birthday of the Christian church, 
when we commemorate the descent of the Holy 
Ghost upon the infant church in Jerusalem. Now 
this I say is a noteworthy fact, that so many brave 
soldiers and sailors, fighting the battles of king 
and country with courage and devotion, have also 
been men full of the Spirit of God, pure, noble, types 
of Christian character. Such I take it could not have 
been the case if the profession to which they had 
devoted their lives was inconsistent with the Chris- 
tian religion. 

3. Observe once more, that when the soldiers 
came to John the Baptist and asked his counsel he 
said unto them, "Do violence to no man, neither 
accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages." 
He did not bid them renounce their profession as 
soldiers, but evidently contemplated their continu- 
ance therein. To the same purpose is the fact that 
Cornelius, the Roman centurion, when he was 
baptized and anointed with the Holy Ghost, re- 
ceived no commandment from St. Peter to throw 



THE NATIONAL CRISIS 5 

up his commission in the Roman army and refuse 
henceforth to follow the profession of a soldier. 

4. Once more I urge that if war were never 
justifiable and a Christian man could not draw his 
sword in defense of his country without disloyalty 
to Christ — the inspired] writers would not have 
selected the terms of war and the armor of the 
soldier as symbols of the Christian life and of 
Christian virtues. "Fight the good fight of faith," 
cries St. Paul. "Put on the whole armor of God, 
that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, 
and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, 
having your loins girded up with truth, and having 
on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet 
shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; 
above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith you 
shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the 
wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the 
sword of the spirit" (Eph. 6: 11 to 17). 

Surely if the profession of a soldier had been 
fundamentally opposed to the Christian religion 
some other imagery than this would have been 
adopted by the inspired writer. Nor would the 
church have adopted the idea into her baptismal ser- 
vice in the solemn words, "We sign him with the 
sign of the cross in token that hereafter he shall 
not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ cruci- 
fied, and manfully to fight under His banner against 



6 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's 
faithful soldier and servant to his life's end." 

5. Consider now some of the logical conse- 
quences of accepting the theory of the pacifists — 
the idea that war is never justifiable — not even when 
it is waged in defense of our liberties. 

Our holy religion does indeed condemn unjust 
wars, wars of aggression, wars of conquest, wars of 
revenge. But what of a war of self-defense? What 
of a war for liberty? A war for national self-pres- 
ervation? A war to save civil law from being 
absolutely overborne by military law ? Our pacifists 
say Christianity condemns even such wars as these. 
If so, then observe some of the consequences. 

(i) We must reject wholesale the teaching of 
the Old Testament; not only, mark you, the im- 
precatory Psalms — not only the undeveloped moral 
teaching of the period of the Judges, but the whole 
spirit and teaching of the Book. We must repu- 
diate the teaching of the ancient prophets and 
patriarchs. We must call Ezekiel down from his 
watch tower and tell him to go home and sleep. 
We must dismiss that grand patriot, the prophet 
Isaiah, from his office as counselor of his people 
when their enemies marched against them. We 
must go into the Bible hall of fame, and pull down 
the statue of Abraham, for he was a warrior; and 
the statue of Moses, for he too was a military 
leader as well as a law giver; and the statue of 



THE NATIONAL CRISIS 7 

Joshua, captain of the host of Israel, and type of 
Christ ; and the statues of Judas Maccabseus and his 
father Mattathias, those glorious patriots of the 
olden times. Yes, and we must go through our 
cemeteries, chisel in hand, and wherever we find 
the word "Christian soldier*' on the tomb of any 
of our heroes, we must relentlessly cut it out, — for 
on this theory no soldier can be a Christian. 

(2) Nor will the New Testament fare much better 
at the hands of this pacifist theory. That magnifi- 
cent roll of heroes and martyrs given us in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews must be cut and slashed 
and almost obliterated. Even the Te Deum must 
be expurgated, for many of the noble army of the 
martyrs and the goodly fellowship of the prophets 
were soldiers or the leaders of soldiers — from 
Moses to St. Alban. 

John the Baptist must be faulted because he did 
not bid the soldiers who asked his counsel to for- 
sake their colors; and St. Peter, also, because he 
did not bid Cornelius throw up his commission as 
centurion in the Roman army; and even Jesus, be- 
cause he uttered that splendid encomium on the 
Roman centurion. 

(3) The church, too, must be rebuked, on the 
pacifist theory, because she has incorporated the 
military idea into her baptismal formula, bidding 
her children manfully fight under the banner of the 
Cross, and especially because she has written high 



8 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

on her roll of honor the names of so many brave 
soldiers and seamen who have given their lives for 
home and country against the armies of the aliens. 

I cannot help here making a personal application 
in regard to this : I will refer to the name of a man 
who is esteemed by a very large proportion of ex- 
pert opinion as the greatest soldier America has 
ever produced; and I refer to him as a Christian 
and not as a soldier. I refer to him as a shining 
example of Christian character — I mean Robert E. 
Lee. There is a man who is a supreme example of 
the Christian life and of Christian conduct. In- 
deed, when you read his letters to his family you 
say, "Here is a saint and not a soldier." If the 
pacifists' theory be correct, how could Robert E. 
Lee have been such a saint as he was? 

And now one thing more: I ask you to tell me 
what is the supremest virtue inculcated by the Chris- 
tian religion; and I believe all will answer, **Self- 
sacrifice." I believe it because I am sure you are 
not disciples of Nietzsche. If you were you would 
say something like this: *'Self-sacrifice is only 
worthy of women and children and Englishmen." 

Self-sacrifice, I say, is the supremest Christian 
virtue; and where do you find it in greater beauty 
than in the lives of Christian soldiers, even on the 
field of battle? There are old soldiers here, no 
doubt. I was a soldier. I do not like to call my- 



THE NATIONAL CRISIS 9 

self an old soldier; but at any rate a man who is a 
soldier in what he believes to be a just cause can go 
forth to battle with the love of God in his heart 
and the love of his fellowman, and be as sure of 
serving God as when he is down on his knees say- 
ing his prayers. There is a God-implanted instinct 
in every man to defend his home, his wife and his 
children; and that instinct has upon it the image 
and the superscription of the Divine King. If that 
is so, then I ask: Is this instinct of self-defense 
for one's home and family in conflict with the spirit 
of the Christian religion? — and I do not hesitate to 
say if it really were in conflict with the Christian 
religion we could not accept the Christian religion 
as a Divine revelation. 

But aside from this argument from the reducHo 
ad ahsurdum we cannot forget that the New Testa- 
ment teaches us that "the wisdom which is from 
above is '* first pure, then peaceable" ; that our Lord 
is ''-first King of Righteousness, then King of 
Peace" (which justifies the conclusion that there is 
no just peace that is not based on righteousness) ; 
and that he is described in the book of Revelation 
as one whose "eyes were as a flame of fire," "mak- 
ing war in righteousness," and "followed by the 
armies of Heaven." 

In conclusion I will only add that the idea of 
"Peace at any price" — abject submission, for in- 



10 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

stance, to foreign invasion — is to be repudiated by 
Christian men in the name of their Master, Who 
made a whip of small cords and drove the traffick- 
ers out of the temple. 



II 



NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY AND 
RESPONSIBILITY * 

"Let us search and try our ways." — Lam. Ill, 40 

In obedience to a long-honored custom, the peo- 
ple of the United States are invited to assemble in 
their places of worship to-day to render thanks 
and praise to the Almighty Father, the giver of all 
good, for the fruits of the earth, and all the other 
blessings of his bountiful providence. 

We respond to the invitation with grateful hearts. 
The earth has yielded her increase with prodigality 
unexampled, perhaps, since we became a nation. 
The sun of prosperity has again risen upon our 
land. Peace reigns throughout our borders, and, 
as the President has reminded us, "our ample finan- 
cial resources have enabled us to steady the markets 
of the world." For these and other blessings it is 
meet and right that this great nation with its hun- 
dred million people should lift its heart and voice 
in devout thanksgiving to Almighty God. 

* Delivered in the Church of the Epiphany, Washing- 
ton, D. C, on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 2Sth, 1915. 

II 



12 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

But our chief executive bids us consider to-day 
"our duty to ourselves and to mankind," and "to 
ponder the many responsibilites thrust upon us by 
the great war now being waged." In the same doc- 
ument he speaks of our people "realizing the part 
they have been called upon to play." 

My brethren, let us give heed to this exhortation. 
Let us ask this morning, very solemnly, as we re- 
view the history of the last fifteen months. Have 
we done our duty to ourselves? Have we done 
our duty to mankind? Have we bravely met the 
many responsibilities thrust upon us by this tre- 
mendous conflict? Have we nobly played the part 
we have been called upon to play in this time of 
unparalleled distresses and disasters? 

There are undoubtedly some things upon which 
we, as American citizens, may dwell with real sat- 
isfaction. 

(i) The hearts of our people have nobly re- 
sponded to the cry of distress from Belgium and 
Servia — vast sums of money have been poured out 
without stint for the relief of those suffering mil- 
lions. 

(2) We may also contemplate with satisfaction 
the splendid work done by our American Red Cross 
on the fields of battle, in the hospitals, and in the 
devastated homes of the people. 

(3) We are justly proud also of the services 
bravely and impartially rendered by our Ambassa- 



NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY 13 

dors in London, in Berlin, in Brussels, in Paris, in 
Constantinople. The names of Whitlock and Her- 
rick and Sharp and Gerard and Morgenthau and 
Page are worthy of all honor. They have shed 
luster on the American name. 

(4) With even greater satisfaction we contem- 
plate the heroic labors of our medical experts, 
bravely rendered, often at the cost of life itself, 
fighting the battle against disease in stricken Servia. 
For all these things we are proud and thankful. 

But "our duty to ourselves and to mankind" de- 
manded much more than this. The responsibilities 
thrust upon us by the time were too serious, were 
of too great proportions, to be met by gifts of 
money, or by brave diplomatic services, or even by 
the heroic labors of philanthropy. The Thanksgiv- 
ing Proclamation bids us "be thankful that we have 
been able to assert our rights and the rights of 
mankind," and it must be acknowledged that in 
more than one state paper they have been asserted 
with great dignity and force and in very trenchant 
English. But our duty called for something more 
than the assertion of the rights of mankind, and 
our own. Have we performed that duty ? 

Consider. We allowed the neutrality of Belgium 
to be violated without a word of protest. We saw 
the country of the Belgians ruined and devastated, 
its ancient hospitable soil sown with thousands of 
tombs ; its cities burned ; its peaceful citizens shot to 



14 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

death by hundreds and thousands, and still we raised 
no voice of protest. We were powerless indeed to 
stay the hand of violence and cruelty when it seized 
the throat of poor little Belgium. But it was in 
our power to lift up our voice before the civilized 
world against this brutal and unspeakable crime. 
This at least we could have done, but this we failed 
to do, and so failed of our high duty before God 
and humanity. And when the Belgian commission- 
ers presented the wrongs of their crucified nation in 
our capitol we turned them away with icy phrases, 
and bid them present their case to The Hague 
tribunal ! 

Passing over many minor matters, I ask did we 
do our duty to ourselves and to mankind when the 
Liisitania was barbarously attacked on the high seas 
and a thousand human beings — men, women and 
Httle children — sent to their deaths? We did, in- 
deed, protest against this deed of horror and inhu- 
manity in a state paper which has seldom been 
equaled in diplomatic history. It was a brave and 
splendid assertion, not only of the rights of Ameri- 
can citizens, but of the rights of humanity. When 
we read it our hearts leaped up in thankfulness. 

It was not long, however, before other vessels 
bearing American citizens were torpedoed, and 
again American lives were lost. Once more, in 
ringing tones, our chief magistrate asserted the 
purpose to hold to "strict accountability" the nation 



NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY 15 

that had thus outraged the dignity of the United 
States, and destroyed the lives of our citizens. But 
the outrages did not cease. 

Again, under circumstances of peculiar atrocity, 
a peaceful merchant ship was destroyed and Amer- 
ican lives destroyed with it. Then there came a 
brave, stern demand that these infamous acts should 
cease, and the purpose was affirmed in words of 
adamantine force, to hold the guilty nation to ac- 
count for its crimes. 

Again we rejoiced that our chief magistrate had 
so nobly expressed the mind and purpose of the 
nation. Again we believed that those brave words 
would be followed by deeds as brave. But more 
than seven long months have passed since the Lusi- 
tania horror burst upon the world, and still nothing 
has been done to avenge the deaths of those Ameri- 
can citizens — men, women, and children — ruthlessly' 
murdered on the high seas ! Nothing has been done 
to vindicate the insulted majesty of our Republic! 
Our words have been of adamant — our deeds have 
not crystallized — they are still in the fluid state ! 

But what could we have done, it may be asked. 
Should we have declared war on Germany? No. 
But we should have broken off diplomatic relations 
with a nation that had thus wantonly outraged 
every principle of humanity, and insulted the maj- 
esty of the Republic. This action would have been 
supported by a vast majority of our people. Our 



i6 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

citizenship had been outraged; our national dignity 
defiantly trampled upon ; and our whole people were 
aroused to such a pitch of indignation that the gov- 
ernment would have been sustained by an over- 
whelming majority in vigorous and uncompromis- 
ing action. 

But what, it may be asked, would have been ac- 
complished by breaking off diplomatic relations in 
response to the loud demand of our citizens? I an- 
swer, several things of great moment might have 
been expected to result. 

In the first place we should have consolidated pub- 
lic opinion. We should have taken a great step to 
unify our nation. We are a composite people ; many 
races mingle their tides on our shores. It should, 
therefore, have been one of the supreme tasks of 
statesmanship to weld these peoples into one, to 
fuse together these diverse elements. 

Again, in doing so we should have banished from 
our midst those numerous representatives of foreign 
powers who are hostile to our country, and we 
should have broken up many nests of conspiracy, 
where representatives of alien nations have been 
plotting against the peace and prosperity of our 
land. We should have driven into their holes thou- 
sands of disloyal citizens who have been obeying 
the behests of foreign powers while still clutching 
the privileges of American citizenship. 

But more important than this, we should have 



NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY 17 

vindicated the honor and majesty of our country. 
We should have given expression to the real senti- 
ments of nine-tenths of our people. We should have 
taken our stand by the side of the great Democ- 
racies who are fighting our battles to-day against 
the encroachments and usurpations of autocratic 
tryanny. And we should have thrown into the scale 
the immense weight of our influence, as the might- 
iest neutral power, on the side of humanity and law 
and liberty. 

But, it will be said, such a course might have led 
to war. I answer, not necessarily so. Not unless 
Germany saw fit to declare war against us — which 
it is not likely she would have done. 

But suppose it might have led to war? Is a great 
and powerful nation to submit to insults and out- 
rage rather than run the risk of war? The Central 
European Powers have, in fact, been levying war 
against the United States for seven months past. 
They have been attacking our industries, they have 
been interfering with our domestic affairs, they have 
been fomenting strikes, they have plotted to blow 
up our public buildings, to burn our factories, to 
blow up our ships. Read the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence and see how small were England^ s acts of 
oppression against the Colonies in comparison with 
what we have endured at the hands of the Central 
Empires. What an indictment Thomas Jefferson 
could have drawn up, were he with us to-day, 



i8 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

against Germany and Austria! And I ask, should 
we fail of our duty in a great world crisis when 
the blood of our citizens cries to Heaven for ven- 
geance because we are afraid of the consequences? 
Where is the spirit of 'y6, when thirteen feeble col- 
onies did not hesitate to challenge the power of the 
mighty English empire rather than submit to unjust 
taxation — a tax on tea? 

Men say, **What could America, in its defense- 
less condition, without an army, and with so small 
a navy, what could America do against the mighty 
armaments of Germany and Austria?" I answer, 
what could Germany and Austria do against Amer- 
ica so long as the British fleet commands the seas? | 
They could not land a soldier on our shores! The 
most they could do would be to smuggle a subma- 
rine across the Atlantic and attack our commerce. 

And now another outrage has been committed. 
Another ship (the Ancona) has been sunk, and as 
American citizens were assassinated on the Lusi- 
tcmia, and on the Arabic j and on the Hesperian, 
American citizens have now again been assassinated 
with brutal cruelty on board the Ancona. 

This new outrage offers a fresh opportunity to 
our Government — not to speak, or to write dis- 
patches — but to act in defense of the insulted maj- 
esty of the Republic. We trusted our President. 
We were ready to give him whole-hearted support. 



NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY 19 

We expected that his virile assertion of the rights 
of American citizens and of the rights of humanity 
(which so stirred our blood) would have been fol- 
lowed by action, vigorous action; but after watch- 
fully waiting in vain for seven months we frankly 
say we are disappointed. Will we be disappointed 
now? 

In my opinion, American citizens should no 
longer keep silence. We have patiently waited to 
be led in the path of duty, but we have waited in 
vain. "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." We 
ask now, not for strong and resolute words, but 
for strong and resolute action. 

Let it not be said that the words I have uttered 
this morning are not fitting in the Christian pulpit. 
I hold, on the contrary, that it is the duty of the 
Christian pulpit to denounce the sordid and selfish 
ideals that have regard only to trade and comfort 
and peace. The Christian pulpit should call trum- 
pet-tongued to the people to be true to our American 
ideals; true to the principles of liberty and justice 
enshrined in our history ; true to the great principles 
of Democracy embodied in our Constitution. I re- 
member that it was Mattathias, the priest, who fired 
the hearts of the Jews to resist the tyranny of An- 
tiochus : **My sons, be valiant and show yourselves 
men!" he cried. It was the Archbishop of Canter- 
bury who headed the barons at Runnymede when 
they wrung the Magna Charta from the tyrant 



20 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

John ! It was the prophet Ezekiel who was charged 
to watch and warn the people of the approach of 
the enemy! 

The leaders of the Christian Church have often, 
in great national crises, stood forth to utter the 
people's voice against tyranny. I feel, therefore, 
that it is not only my right, but my duty, to give 
utterance to the sentiments which I believe throb in 
many hearts in our country to-day. I make my 
own, the words recently uttered by one of our ablest 
legal lights — "I venture to say, in all reverence, that 
the God of nations will be better pleased on the 
coming Thanksgiving Day — which should also be 
one of penitence and humility — if we do a little 
more in fact, as well as in words, to safeguard the 
rights of htimanity." 

We confront to-day, my fellow citizens and my 
fellow Christians, the most serious crisis that has 
arisen in the United States for half a century. It 
is a solemn hour in which we live. The honor of 
our country is at stake. The security of our citizens 
on the high seas is in constant jeopardy. Our do- 
mestic peace is invaded by the agents of foreign 
nations. Arson and murder are plotted in the very 
midst of our peaceful communities. Our supine 
policy of inaction has grieved and humiliated the 
hearts of our citizens. A disloyal press, doing the 
bidding of foreign nations, boldly flaunts itself be- 
fore our eyes. The fires of patriotism are burning 



NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY 21 

low among thousands of our people. Meanwhile 
our country has suffered serious loss of prestige. 
The name of American citizen no longer commands 
the respect it once did. In such a crisis our citizens 
have a duty to perform. They should frankly ex- 
press their sentiments, and I believe that the great 
majority of our citizens, practically all true Amer- 
icans, are of opinion that our policy should be gov- 
erned in this great crisis, not by counsels of timidity 
or international opportunism, but by a steadfast re- 
gard to the aspirations and ideals handed down to 
us by our Revolutionary ancestors; by fidelity to 
the principles of liberty and Democracy enshrined 
in our Constitution; by a brave determination to 
vindicate the honor and majesty of the Republic; 
by a stern resolution, at whatever cost, to repel the 
open or secret assaults of foreign powers on our 
domestic peace and harmony; above all, by loyalty 
to justice, that justice which should dominate all 
the moral forces; that justice which "as ancient as 
humanity itself, eternal as the need of man and na- 
tions," is the basis of all civilization. 

Our President speaks of the principles of "peace 
and freedom*' by which we have always sought to be 
guided, but I trust we have also always sought to be 
guided by the principles of justice and humanity, 
and that we should always be prepared to assert 
these principles, and to suffer for them if need be. 

As it is true of the individual, that "no man liveth 



22 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

to himself," so it is true of a nation — no nation can 
afford to live to itself. It must consider the rights 
and happiness of other nations. There are crises in 
the history of a nation when the words of Christ, 
"he that saveth his life shall lose it," find their na- 
tional application. Better even the losses and the 
sufferings of war, terrible as they are, than the loss 
of honor — the failure to respond to our national 
ideals, the humiliation of our national name. Listen 
to the brave words of the leader of the bar of Brus- 
sels in an address which led to his being cast into a 
Prussian prison: 'Why these sacrifices, why this 
sorrow f Belgium could have avoided these dis- 
asters, saved her existence, her treasures, and the 
lives of her people, hut she preferred her honor T 

In conclusion let me guard myself against misun- 
derstanding. God forbid that I should utter a word 
that could add a feather^s weight to the heavy bur- 
den that rests on the President's shoulders. 

All true Americans should wish to support their 
chief magistrate and to labor sympathetically with 
him in his efforts to grapple with the difficult tasks 
that confront him at this crisis. 

But it is for that very reason that we appeal to 
him to adhere bravely to the principles he has so 
clearly enunciated in his diplomatic correspondence 
with Germany. We are confident that a courageous 
course of action, just in line with his strong and 



NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY 23 

patriotic utterances last spring and summer, would 
lighten his burden and clear out of his pathway 
many of the difficulties and dangers that now beset 
it. It is our friendliness to him — our sincere loy- 
alty — our earnest wish that he should overcome the 
difficulties that face him, and triumph over the peo- 
ple who are at once his enemies and the enemies of 
our country, that moves us to urge upon him a dif- 
ferent course from that which he is now pursuing — 
to seize the opportunity that again presents itself to 
take bold and decisive action in vindication of the 
honor of our country. Is it too much to ask him to 
banish from our shores the plotters and conspira- 
tors who, wearing the livery of foreign nations, and 
accepted as representatives of friendly powers, have 
been using their diplomatic positions as bases 
whence to wage war against the peace of our 
country ? 

The President no doubt desires to know the senti- 
ments of the people, and as many public men hesi- 
tate to speak out, and as the officers of the Army 
and Navy do not enjoy the right of free speech, it 
may well be that the voice of the pulpit — which has 
no political or racial bias — will have unique value 
as an expression of public sentiment. We who min- 
ister in the things of God occupy a position of de- 
tachment — unaffected by the currents of politics or 
of commercial interests. 

The people, we are confident, are heartily with 



24 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

the President in his patriotic purpose to put the 1 
country in a state of preparation against any attack 
that may be made upon it by a foreign power; and 
we also beHeve that the people would be just as 
heartily with him, if he should justify the stern pur- 
pose expressed in his last Note to Germany by ap- 
propriate action now. 



Ill 

THE ^XUSITANIA'^ ANNIVERSARY* 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

Four years ago the greatest ship ever floated — the 
Titanic — was ground to pieces in the jaws of a huge 
iceberg, and i,6oo souls found a watery grave. 

Three years later another magnificent ship — the 
Lusitania — was suddenly destroyed, and 1,200 peo- 
ple — men, women, and little children — ^perished 
under the most tragic circumstances. 

But there was an unspeakable difference between 
the two cases. In the one case the appalling tragedy 
was the result of an error of judgment, or, at worst, 
a grave neglect of due precaution against the dan- 
gers of the deep. In the other case the disaster was 
the result of "man's inhumanity to man" — an act 
of diabolical inhumanity such as finds no parallel 
in the long records of civilized man. For the Lusi- 
tania, crowded with civilians — of both sexes and of 
all ages — was ruthlessly torpedoed without a mo- 
ment's warning — a cowardly and infamous crime, 

* Address delivered in Carnegie Hall, New York, at the 
Lusitania Memorial Meeting, May 19, 1916. 

25 



21^ FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

deliberately planned and executed without pity, by 
official order. 

So horrible was this deed of wholesale murder, 
executed by the willing slaves of a remorseless mas- 
ter, that the very fabric of the moral world seemed 
to tremble under the shock. 

In the case of the Titanic all man's vaunted mas- 
tery of the elements — all his science and all his art 
— was made a mock of in one moment's clash with 
the adamantine forces of nature. 

But in the case of the Lusitania all our boasted 
progress in civilization and moral advancement, la- 
boriously wrought out through millenniums of time, 
was shattered in a moment by the relentless action of 
an inhuman force never before operative in the civ- 
ilized world — a carefully elaborated system of 
frightfulness, generated by a philosophy based 
wholly on selfishness, recognizing no moral obliga- 
tion but only "the will to conquer" at any cost of 
cruelty to the innocent and the helpless — and all 
under the name of God! 

Our meeting to-night, as you have been told, has 
reference to that awful tragedy. It is a memorial 
meeting. 

On the one hand we honor the memory of some 
of the victims on the Liisitania — men and women, 
people of eminence in the world and people of ob- 
scurity, who, in that terrible crisis of disaster, dis- 
played the qualities of unselfish heroism. We hail 



THE '^LUSITANIA'' ANNIVERSARY 27 

them as martyrs and heroes, and we write their 
names high on the roll of those who in the face of 
sudden danger and death have been ready to give 
their lives to save the weak and helpless. 

On the other hand, we record our eternal detesta- 
tion of that deed of unspeakable horror, whose guilt 
smells to heaven to this day, and we utter our stem 
demand that it shall not pass into oblivion while the 
monsters responsible for it remain unrebuked and 
unrepentant, and while the rights then so remorse- 
lessly violated are not vindicated. We are not ask- 
ing for revenge. No; but we are demanding that 
such action be taken by the government of our Re- 
public as shall make it clear that these dead have not 
died in vain. We ask that the stamp of our horror 
and detestation be set upon that monstrous act so 
clearly, so completely that the whole world shall 
know that we hold it an inhuman crime, demanding 
repentance and atonement of the men responsible 
for it, from the lowest to the highest, from the blue 
jacket that launched the torpedo to the admiral who 
gave the order, and to the imperial master who sanc- 
tioned the order. 

Yes, fellow citizens, the Lusitania memory calls 
on us to-night to vindicate outraged humanity. The 
voice of our President summoned us at the time "to 
assert our rights and the rights of mankind." That 
was a clear call to do our duty, to put ourselves as 
a nation on the side of right and justice, to condemn 



28 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

that act of ruthless cruelty. "Assert our rights and 
the rights of mankind/' said our chief magistrate. 
And we have to-night, my fellow citizens, taken up 
the demand. We tell our President we stand with 
him when he thus voices the solemn duty of the 
American Republic. We must place ourselves as a 
nation on the side of right and justice. We must 
condemn and go on condemning that act of ruthless 
cruelty. We must do it, or be false to the voice of 
God in our hearts. We must insist that the Republic 
clear itself from silent acquiescence in so flagrant 
a wrong — so infamous a deed. We must demand 
that this act be punished as well as repudiated, lest 
it become a precedent and so contribute to the recog- 
nition as a principle of international law the right of 
a belligerent to commit such abominable crimes in 
pursuance of its ambition. 

Yes, with all our heart we applaud the resolution 
of our President, so finely expressed in his second 
note to Germany, "not to omit any word or act 
necessary to the performance of the sacred duty of 
maintaining the rights of the United States and its 
citizens." We only ask that these strong words 
should be followed up by deeds as strong. For 
most truly has the immortal bard whose tercen- 
tenary we have just been celebrating said, " 'Tis a 
kind of good deed to say well." And yet words are 
no deeds. This is a case where those other words 
of Shakespeare are most apt, 



THE "LUSITANIA" ANNIVERSARY 29 

"Words to the heat of deeds 
Too cold breath give/' 

Now, my fellow citizens, how stands the matter 
to-night ? I put it to you plainly. Have we done our 
duty ? We saw it when the Lusitania went down — 
but have we done it? Twelve months have passed 
by, and what have we done to vindicate and uphold 
the rights of America and mankind then so fla- 
grantly violated? Will any true man here say that 
we have fulfilled our duty so long as we still offi- 
cially grasp the hand of the nation that is stained 
with the blood of our citizens ? 

I do not believe it. On the contrary, I believe you 
will agree with me when I say that a nation (or, 
rather, a government) which could deliberately plan 
and ruthlessly execute such a fiendish crime is un- 
worthy of the fellowship of civilized nations. For 
my part I hold that the least we can do for the mem- 
ory of the innocent victims of the Lusitania is to 
purge our Republic of all association with the Em- 
pire which stands condemned before the Supreme 
Court of Civilization as guilty of that crime. 

I shall be told perhaps that such counsel as this is 
inconsistent with neutrality, that neutrality to which 
we have been officially pledged. 

I do not deny that it is — but I have this to say : 
The American people are not neutral in this conflict. 
If they ever were neutral, they are so no longer. 
They see clearly that the issues at stake are moral 



30 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

issues, and issues of vital, of overshadowing impor- 
tance. And they strongly feel that when these tre- 
mendous moral issues are trembling in the balance it 
is impossible for true men to be neutral. If, as you 
walk the street, you see a big brute trampling a 
little child under his heel, you cannot be neutral, 
you cannot pass by on the other side ; every instinct 
of manhood compels you to rush to the rescue of the 
child. And so, when we saw little Belgium as- 
saulted, trampled upon, ravaged, ravished, we felt 
that it was the duty of this great nation of ours at 
least to enter a vehement protest against the cruel 
wrong. And when the Lusitania was torpedoed we 
felt the same way. And when other similar out- 
rages were perpetrated, too numerous to mention, 
the same feeling rose in our breast. 

No, we are not neutral, and we are here to-night 
to give voice to the intense conviction of our souls, 
as men and as American citizens, that this hollow 
pretense of neutrality should be thrown to the winds, 
and the whole weight of our moral influence be 
promptly and unhesitatingly cast into the scale in 
favor of the nations who are so bravely battling 
against colossal tyranny and wrong. 

Is it not clear as the light that every consideration 
of duty and honor demands this course of our gov- 
ernment? In the face of the ruthless and brutal 
assaults of the German government on the peace 
and civihzation and liberty of mankind will this 



THE "LUSITANIA'^ ANNIVERSARY 31 

great Republic, founded on liberty, consecrated to 
the service of democracy, play the role of the 
craven? Dare she keep silence? Dare she fail to 
make deep and vehement protest against this tremen- 
dous assault on all the principles that we hold most 
dear? 

That awful spectacle in the Irish Sea on the 7th 
of May a year ago reveals the German war lords in 
all their naked brutality and shows them up to the 
world as the violators of every principle of civili- 
zation and humanity. 

Mark you, my friends, I do not bring this terrible 
accusation against the German people, but against 
the military caste that has deceived the people and 
led them astray. Multitudes of the German people 
are kindly and humane; and myriads of German 
soldiers would instinctively turn away from these 
deeds of cruelty and savagery. 

But they are dominated by the evil genius and the 
false philosophy of Prussianism. Blinded by the 
idea that obedience to authority is the first principle 
of conduct ; taught that the State can do no wrong, 
and that when the State issues a command through 
its representatives, it is the duty of the citizen to 
obey without question and without scruple; the 
German soldier commits acts of cruelty as an au- 
tomaton, giving no heed to the dictates of humanity, 
or the scruples of conscience, because his first and 
supreme principle of conduct, overshadowing all 



32 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

other considerations, is obedience to the behest of 
the State, and of the Kaiser, who is its incarnation. 
The German soldier is taught that the ethics of the 
Christian religion have nothing to do with his con- 
duct. The State is above Christian morality. It 
has an ethics of its own which justifies wholesale 
massacre on land or sea, which upholds the prin- 
ciple that no act can be wrong which the military 
authorities consider contributory to success. Ac- 
cordingly, the German War Book sanctions the in- 
timidation of the enemy by the systematic murder 
of non-combatants, and hence the little children in 
German towns were summoned to celebrate with 
great rejoicings the destruction of the Lusitania, 
when hundreds of women and children and little 
babies went down to death in midocean. 

And it is now reported that the captain of the 
submarine which sank the Sussex, who, we were 
officially informed, was appropriately punished, has 
been decorated by the Emperor for his heroic deed ! 

But some may say. What if all this be true ? How 
does it concern us? Why should we allow our- 
selves to be drawn into this European maelstrom of 
war ? Our duty is to remember Washington's coun- 
sel : not to be entangled with European conflicts. 

My fellow citizens, that time has gone by. We 
cannot avoid responsibility for the interests and des- 
tinies of mankind. This European struggle does 



THE "LUSITANIA" ANNIVERSARY 33 

concern us — concerns us vitally. Ask yourselves 
what is the issue at stake between the Allies and the 
Central Empires. 

Is it commercial supremacy in the markets of the 
world ? Is it who shall hold Alsace and Lorraine ? 
or Belgium? or Poland? Is it who shall have the 
lion's share of Colonial Africa? or the biggest sHce 
of the Chinese Empire? 

No; it is none of these things, but something un- 
speakably greater. It is whether arbitrary power or 
ordered liberty shall be supreme on earth. No ; not 
even that, for the republican principle does not chal- 
lenge the control of the world. It only asks free 
scope to live and perpetuate itself. 

But this combination of absolute autocracy and 
Mohammedan tyranny demands the subjection and 
extinction of Democracy. Germany seeks to con- 
trol the whole world. Her ambition is to dominate 
mankind. Her aim is to bring all peoples and na- 
tions under the scepter of the Hohenzollerns. 

That is the issue, and that is why it concerns us. 
The American people have made up their minds on 
careful consideration, weighing the evidence dis- 
passionately, that the cause of the Allies is the cause 
of liberty and justice, and so it is true to-night that 
if they were ever neutral, they are neutral no longer. 
Their deliberate judgment, as well as their natural 
sympathies, has placed them on the side of the na- 
tions which have challenged the tremendous and 



34 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

long-prepared effort of the German war lords to 
conquer Europe and to dominate the world. Every- 
day strengthens and consolidates the sympathies of 
Americans — real Americans — with England and 
France and Russia and Italy in the titanic struggle 
in which they are engaged. 

But some will say, Surely you do not advocate 
war? You, a minister of the Prince of Peace, do 
not counsel the American Government to take up 
arms? No, my friends, I do not counsel war. I 
hate war, because I know from experience how ter- 
rible it is. And I hate militarism. I detest the idea 
of settling international differences by the sword. I 
believe in arbitration, in conciliation, in justice, in 
comity, in brotherhood, in mutual concession to 
reach international understanding. 

But we are facing a situation in which these civ- 
ilized and reasonable methods of settling differences 
count for nothing. We are confronted by a mighty 
conglomerate Empire — the mightiest in history — 
which is committed to the purpose of world domina- 
tion. This power already dominates half of Europe 
and is striving to dominate the whole of it, and then 
to control the destinies of the world. It is the ir- 
reconcilable enemy of democracy, and, if victorious 
in the present struggle for mastery, would inevitably 
strike for dominion over this western hemisphere. 

And, my friends and fellow citizens, while I am 
a man of peace and a minister of the gospel of peace, 



THE "LUSITANIA" ANNIVERSARY 35 

I remember that "The wisdom which is from 
above is first pure, then peaceable," and our wisdom 
cannot be "pure" while it consents to the injustice 
which has been meted out to Belgium and to the 
victims of the Lusitania. And I remember that the 
King whom I serve is first King of Righteousness 
and then King of Peace; from which I infer that 
we who speak for Him must put Righteousness 
above Peace — Righteousness first, then Peace. 

The man of God is never more sure of the divine 
approbation than when he is calling his people away 
from cowardly submission to dishonor and oppres- 
sion to courage and faith and self-sacrifice that our 
heritage of liberty, so dearly purchased by our fore- 
fathers, should be handed down unimpaired to those 
who come after us. 

Yes, while I stand for Peace, I stand for Justice 
before Peace, and hence when justice demands it I 
stand for the principle that even war is a less evil 
than injustice, less than national dishonor, less than 
the suppression of the rights of our citizens. 

There are some who in the name of the Christian 
religion advocate the doctrine of passive submission, 
even should a hostile army invade our country. 

For my part I repudiate such a doctrine in the 
;name of the Christ who made a whip of small cords 
and drove the profane traffickers out of the temple. 
Passive non-resistance to oppression or invasion is 



36 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

treason against justice — and justice, I beg to remind 
you, is an attribute of the Christian's God. Chris- 
tianity in its international relations must have re- 
gard to international justice, whose symbol is the 
sword. 

But, after all, I repeat I am not advocating war. 
No, I deprecate it. I pray that we may remain at 
peace with all the world. But I do advocate an 
honest and outspoken declaration on the part of the 
American Republic that we detest and abhor the 
principles of the Central Empires of Europe and 
their savage methods of warfare; that our sym- 
pathies are distinctly with the Allies, and that we 
wish to throw the whole weight of our moral influ- 
ence into the scale on their behalf. 

This I hold to be our sacred duty before God and 
man — a duty we cannot shirk without dishonor. A 
nation, like an individual, cannot live unto itself 
without losing its own soul. It must meet its re- 
sponsibilities to the world. The time has gone by 
when this Republic can say, "Am I my brother's 
keeper?" We belong to the family of nations, and 
we have duties to fulfill as a member of the family. 

Let me buttress my opinion by a clear and im- 
pressive utterance of President Wilson, spoken 
about two weeks ago. He said that our Republic 
was founded on Liberty and Justice, and in vindi- 
cating these great principles we must have regard 
not to ourselves alone but to the interests of other 



THE "LUSITANIA" ANNIVERSARY 37 

nations as well; "So far as America is concerned, 
and her influence is involved, justice and liberty 
should be extended to mankind everywhere." 

It is when we let the light of this clear utterance 
into our souls that we see how impossible it is for 
America to remain neutral in this great conflict. In 
the name of Liberty and Justice, for ourselves and 
mankind, we must make our choice and take our 
stand in this tremendous issue. Where do we stand ? 
Are we for Liberty or for arbitrary power? For 
Democracy or Autocracy? For Christian civiliza- 
tion or for anti-Christian barbarism? 

The cause of the Allies is the cause of personal 
liberty against irresponsible power ; it stands for the 
freedom and independence of the nations; for the 
sacredness of treaties; for the observance of ac- 
cepted principles of international law; for pacific 
civilization against a civilization based on militar- 
ism. They are fighting to free Belgium and France 
(America's brave and chivalrous friend) and Po- 
land and Servia and Armenia from an intolerable 
yoke of bondage; yes, they are fighting to free the 
German people from the yoke of Prussian oppres- 
sion. 

I say it is the cause of humanity against sav- 
agery; of civic ideals against military ambition. It 
is a war of great principles. The Allies are battling 
against such ideas as these : 



38 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

The end of the State is Power ; 
Might makes Right ; 
The State is above moral obligations; 
Military necessity justifies any cruelty, any in- 
justice, any wrong! 

Fellow citizens, can America hesitate when such 
an issue is presented? 

She did not hesitate in 1822 to declare to the 
world she would not tolerate autocratic government 
on this continent. No, she would guarantee the 
right of self-government from Hudson^s Bay to 
Cape Horn! Again in 1850 she did not fear to 
espouse the cause of freedom in Hungary, and sent 
a warship to bring Kossuth to America. Yet again 
she uttered through the eloquent voice of Daniel 
Webster her sympathy with Greece in her struggle 
for liberty. Finally, in 1866, she bade the Em- 
peror of the French withdraw his legions from 
Mexico, and her behest was obeyed. 

I ask you, then, why should we not lift up our 
voice now for Belgium and Servia and Poland and 
France and poor crucified Armenia? If when we 
were small and weak and poor we stood forth as 
advocates of liberty and self-government, challeng- 
ing the assaults of tyranny upon the rights of the 
weak, shall we now play the craven in the face of 
such gigantic crimes against freedom? 

Has America no longer a soul of her own? Is 



THE "LUSITANIA" ANNIVERSARY 39 

she bound hand and foot to the chariot of the 
Kaiser? Has hyphenated Americanism chilled her 
heart and paralyzed her arm and blinded her eyes? 
Is she cowed into a shameful neutrality when the 
freedom of so many nations is being led forth to be 
crucified by the pitiless hands of the soldiers of the 
Kaiser ? 

God forbid! 

And now, before I conclude, lend me your ears, 
fellow citizens, while I say one word on the live 
topic of the hour. National Preparedness. New 
York uttered her mighty voice on this subject on 
Saturday last in thrilling tones. We echo to-night 
her patriotic sentiments. We demand of our legis- 
lators in Washington that they cease playing with 
the question of national defense and grapple with it 
with a stem and solemn purpose to give the country 
both military and naval defense. 

Fellow citizens, too many of our people are sleep- 
ing the sleep of ignorant security on this momentous 
subject. Let us wake them, if we may, to the real 
situation. Let us stir the slumbering fires of pa- 
triotism by the memories of the Republic. 

There is a powerful reserve force available for 
this emergency which ought to be, and can be, 
mobilized and set in motion against the evil influ- 
ences which are paralyzing the arm of Congress 
and defeating every effort to put the country in a 
state of real preparation to vindicate its honor and 



40 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

assert and enforce the rights of our citizens. I re- 
fer to the glorious traditions and memories of our 
national history, especially of the Revolutionary 
epoch. Here is a latent force of enormous value in 
the present emergency. I say, let us mobilize it. 
Summon it to take the field against the lukewarm- 
ness, the supineness, the timidity, the selfishness, 
the love of ease, which are the worst enemies of our 
country to-day. Bring forward in serried ranks 
the unselfish patriotism of our ancestors in the Revo- 
lution — the courage, the daring, the self-sacrifice 
of the Continental Army and the Continental Con- 
gress. 

Mobilize the traditions of Lexington and Con- 
cord and Bunker Hill and Valley Forge and the 
Cowpens and King's Mountain and Saratoga and 
Yorktown; marshal that great army of patriotic 
memories for the rescue of our country from the 
ignoble and unpatriotic sentiments now clamoring 
for control, and surely the result cannot be doubt- 
ful ! These evil influences will be put to rout, and 
the real America will rise in its might and its cour- 
age and prepare itself to uphold and defend the 
principles of liberty and justice on which it was 
founded. 

Then, perhaps, the voice of Charles Cotesworth 
Pinckney of South Carolina, which spoke in that 
famous and glorious sentiment, "Millions for de- 
fense, but not one cent for tribute," will once more 
be heard in our legislative halls; and then this 



THE ^'LUSITANIA" ANNIVERSARY 41 

"amazing Congress" which, with some shining ex- 
ceptions, seems to have neither a backbone nor a 
brain nor a strong right arm will be electrified into 
patriotic action when it sees the memories of the 
first American Congress mobilized and marching 
on Washington, all ablaze with the glory and the 
fire of the Declaration of Independence. 



IV 



A LESSON IN PREPAREDNESS FROM 
RECENT ENGLISH HISTORY* 

"A democracy which asserts the right of manhood suffrage 
while denying the duty of manhood service, is living in a 
fool's paradise!" 

It is now matter of history that in the year 1905, 
Lord Roberts, the hero of the South African War, 
then in his seventy-fourth year, came to the conclu- 
sion that National Service was necessary to secure 
for Great Britain adequate preparation in the event 
of war, and began that remarkable campaign which 
he kept up for nine years in the effort to rouse his 
countrymen to the need of military preparation. 
His words, however, fell for the most part, on dull 
and incredulous ears, until the time of his famous 
speech at Manchester, October 22, 1912, when the 
Agadir incident of the previous year had at length 
stirred the British public to some realization of 
Germany's extraordinary preparations for war. 

It is instructive to observe that this patriotic ef- 
fort of England's greatest living soldier to pre- 

*Reprinted from The Living Church of July, i, 1916. 

42 



A LESSON IN PREPAREDNESS 43 

pare for the danger which he clearly foresaw 
approaching, was treated with derision and scorn 
by the politicians of the day. England was full 
of pacifists and anti-war men, who did not hesitate 
to launch violent attacks upon the one man in the 
nation who discerned the national peril and pointed 
out the only adequate protection against it. The 
politicians of both parties were deaf to his appeal. 
Worse than this, army reform and reorganization 
were made party questions. 

Lord Roberts, on the other hand, had thoroughly 
studied the question; he had informed himself of 
Germany's plans ; he discerned her purpose to attack 
England when the right opportunity arrived. And 
so he did not hesitate to say, in his Manchester 
speech, "War will take place the instant the German 
forces by land and sea are, by their superiority at 
every point, as certain of victory as anything in 
human calculation can be made. Germany strikes 
when Germany's hour has struck/' 

This speech was met by a torrent of condemna- 
tion; it was called a "diabolical" speech; he himself 
was called a "mere jingo"; his fears were branded 
as foolish; his description of Germany's policy was 
called "an ignorant libel." The whole liberal party 
assailed him and the unionist party joined in the hue 
and cry; his demand for military preparations was 
said to be inspired by the armament makers! (How 
familiar to our ears is that charge!) 



44 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

But the damning fact of all this story was that 
the government knew all the while that Lord 
Roberts spoke nothing but the truth, yet members 
of the government were allowed to attack his Man- 
chester speech as "vicious and dangerous." It was 
even proposed to revoke the pension of the aged 
warrior as a rebuke for the speech he had made! 
Lord Haldane had returned from Berlin eight 
months before, having learned the mind of Ger- 
many; and he had imparted the dreadful secret to 
his colleagues, that Germany had asked of England 
a free hand to overbear and dominate the European 
world whenever they deemed the opportunity fa- 
vorable. 

People have wondered that the British govern- 
ment could have been ignorant of Germany^s hatred 
for England, and of her deep purpose to attack her 
when the right moment came, when it was a matter 
of common knowledge among all classes of the 
German population that such was her spirit and such 
was her purpose. But in fact the government was 
not ignorant. 

Yet with this terrible knowledge in their posses- 
sion they seem to have conspired to keep the truth 
from the people, and made no effort to prepare 
the country for the worst, during all those fateful 
years from the Morocco incident in 1906 to the 
Agadir incident in 191 1, and indeed up to August, 
1914. Thus, in the opinion of well-informed men, 



A LESSON IN PREPAREDNESS 45 

the British government sacrificed the interests of 
the empire to the exigencies of party, or to personal 
ambition. They wouldn't tell the country the truth 
about the size and state of the army, nor did they 
have the courage to adopt measures to increase the 
army so that the danger of war might have been 
averted. 

Our pacifists in America at the present time are 
never weary of declaring that preparation for war 
is an invitation and incitement to war; and yet the 
recent history of England shows beyond the possi- 
bility of doubt, that had England's rulers heeded 
the voice of Lord Roberts and increased the British 
army to even the moderate size of 500,000 men, and 
had they let it be known that Britain thus strength- 
ened would stand by her Allies, there would have 
been no war in 19 14 — ^the world have been spared 
all the horrors of the last two years. In 1906 war 
was averted when the British Foreign Minister 
made it clear to Germany that in case of such an 
event Britain would array herself upon the side of 
France. But the British government ignored the 
danger, refused to heed the warnings of Lord 
Roberts, neglected to put the country in a state of 
adequate preparation, and all the while shrank 
from speaking plainly to the people. In the opinion 
of many, the government allowed its fear of break- 
ing the liberal party to stand in the way of the duty 
it owed to the nation. 



46 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

Is there not in all this a lesson of deep impor- 
tance to America in the critical period which we 
are facing? May not the American people learn 
from this example over the water that the words 
and actions of our politicians should be very keenly 
scrutinized? that their motives should be carefully 
weighed? that the people should investigate for 
themselves the real condition of the country; and 
should study the state of the world and judge for 
themselves what are the dangers to which the 
country is exposed? And should they not, if neces- 
sary, in defiance of the counsel of the politicians, 
demand that thorough and adequate preparation 
should be made by land and sea against any pos- 
sible foreign invasion? 

May we not see, from this story of England's 
peril, how false and dangerous are the appeals of 
the pacifists and the "peace-at-any-price" advocates 
who are so clamorous against military preparation? 
As we take note of how nearly Mr. Asquith's "wait- 
and-see policy" (the prototype of "watchful wait- 
ing") came to wrecking the British Empire; how 
that deplorable lack of leadership and courage 
which did not dare to tell the people of England 
their danger, and call upon them to take radical and 
adequate measures for defense, almost delivered the 
British Empire over to its powerful and ruthless 
enemy; surely we may well resolve to demand of 
those who hold the reins of our government that 



A LESSON IN PREPAREDNESS 47 

they inaugurate a vigorous policy of adequate de- 
fense worthy of the traditions of the republic, and 
commensurate with the dangers that loom up on the 
horizon ! 

Now there can be no intelligent scheme of prepa- 
ration which does not take into consideration the 
motives and purposes of the power which inaugu- 
rated this tremendous war, and is prosecuting it 
with such unexampled fury. It is true that our 
President has told us that we are not concerned 
with *'the causes or the objects" of the war now 
being waged. We differ with him here. The 
American people are an intelligent people ; they have 
brains and hearts and consciences, and they have 
used them all in making up their minds as to what 
nation is responsible for this war, and what is the 
gigantic purpose which lies behind it. We hold 
it the duty of our citizens to ask and answer these 
questions ; and it has not been difficult to do so. The 
story of the outbreak of this war is an open book 
to the American people; the story of how it has 
been waged is writ large in the records of the time. 
The American people are in no doubt as to the issue 
which is at stake between Germany and the Allies. 
It is not commercial supremacy in the markets of 
the world ; it is not who shall hold Alsace and Lor- 
raine; or Belgium, or Poland; it is not who shall 
have the lion's share of colonial Africa, or the big- 
gest slice of the Chinese Empire. It is none of these 



48 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

things — but something unspeakably greater; it is 
whether arbitrary power or ordered Hberty shall 
be supreme on the earth. Our people see that this 
combination of absolute autocracy and Moham- 
medan tyranny demands the subjection and extinc- 
tion of democracy. Germany seeks to control the 
whole world. Her ambition is to dominate man- 
kind. Her aim is to bring all peoples and nations 
under the Hohenzollerns. That is the issue and 
that is why it concerns us. 

And that is the issue which the American people 
must bear in mind in the scheme of national pre- 
paredness which they decide upon. And because 
they know that this gigantic empire of Germany 
looks with ambitious eyes upon the western hemi- 
sphere, they must count him the wisest counselor 
who urges them to adopt a thorough-going policy of 
preparation, based upon the principle that every citi- 
zen owes service to his country in time of danger. 

Democracy is on trial in this western world. It 
has been well said : "Democracy, if the best, is also 
the most delicate form of human government, and 
none suffers so swiftly or so sorely from any short- 
age in the crop of character. None is so dependent 
upon men, and so little capable of being supported 
by a machine alone." Will the character of our 
people stand the test of universal service? Is the 
principle of self-sacrifice sufficiently developed to 
respond to the appeal of patriotism? 



A LESSON IN PREPAREDNESS 49 

Is has been said by able critics that the House 
of Commons has deteriorated in character. We 
would hope that this criticism is not true of our 
American Congress, but certainly both its Houses 
have greatly disappointed the hopes of patriotic men 
in the crisis which has been upon us for the last 
two years. They seem to have been playing with 
the question of national defense, instead of grap- 
pling it with a stem and solemn purpose. 

Too many of our people are sleeping the sleep of 
ignorant security on this momentous subject. Let 
us wake them if we may to the real situation. Let 
us stir the slumbering fires of patriotism by the 
memories of the glorious days of the republic. 



V 

AMERICA'S STEWARDSHIP* 

AS TO WEALTH, AS TO CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES 
AND AS TO INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS 

'^Give account of thy Stewardship/' — Luke XVI, 2 

We meet this morning in accordance with a time- 
honored custom to make public acknowledgment 
of the blessings of Divine Providence which our 
country has enjoyed during the past year. Abun- 
dant harvests have crowned the labors of the hus- 
bandmen. The laborer has had steady employment 
at unusually high wages. Factories, old and new, 
have been running at top speed. The railroads have 
been prosperous. The hum of industry has been 
heard on every hand. In fact, a great wave of 
prosperity has swept over our broad land. As a 
result of all this, and especially of the immense war 
contracts, some people have made great fortunes. 
Never, perhaps, has the wealth of the country been 

* Delivered in the Church of the Epiphany, Washing- 
ton, D. C, Thanksgiving Day, Nov, 30, 1916. 

50 



AMERICA'S STEWARDSHIP 51 

as great as it now is. Besides all this, we have been 
free from any widespread epidemic, and we have 
been at peace — or, at least, no great war has deso- 
lated our borders and swept to the grave hecatombs 
of our citizen soldiers. 

It would seem, then, that our great Republic has 
unusual cause for offering its tribute of praise and 
thanksgiving to the bountiful Giver of all good. 

Yes, God has been good to us. We have abundant 
reason to raise our hymns of adoration to His holy 
name for all the benefits He has bestowed upon us. 

But, Thanksgiving Day has another function. 
It calls us to self -judgment. And for this reason: 
every blessing we enjoy has graven on the obverse 
side "responsibility." Every gift of God is also a 
talent to be accounted for. And so the greater the 
gift the more serious is the responsibility. It fol- 
lows that if to-day we must recognize that the 
American people have been blessed wnth unusual 
prosperity, then so much the greater, so much the 
more compelling, is the responsibility for which they 
must give account. 

Having this in view, I have taken as my text these 
words, 

''Give account of thy Stewardship f' 

The clear message we should lay to heart to-day 
is this : Let the American people consider well the 
responsibilities laid upon them by the abundant gifts 



52 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

of Divine Providence, and ask themselves how far 
they have been faithful to the stewardship entrusted 
to them? These abundant gifts have opened many 
doors of opportunity, — let our people ask themselves 
how far they have bravely and faithfully seized and 
improved these opportunities? 

I. Consider first the stewardship of wealth, 
Great stores of wealth have been poured into the lap 
of America. How is she using them? A friend 
of mine, recently returned from one of the great 
centers of American life, said to me : "The extrava- 
gance one sees on every hand is simply appalling!" 
Never since the world began has the world been so 
full of suffering and sorrow and want and pain, as 
to-day. From Belgium and Servia and Armenia 
and Poland the cries of the homeless and the 
hungry and the desolate go up to heaven. From 
countless hospitals, from smoking ruins of once 
happy homes, from deserts where helpless women 
and children are starving, from fields and factories 
where men and women and young girls are work- 
ing in involuntary servitude under hard taskmasters, 
the piteous supplication ascends for food and cloth- 
ing — for every necessity of life, — above all, for 
liberty ! 

What has America done in answer to that cry? 
To these bleeding, suffering, starving peoples, what 
has been our response? 

Millions of money have been given, and much 



AMERICA'S STEWARDSHIP 53 

personal service has been given. Yes, many have 
given most generously even out of their poverty — 
many have even laid down their lives in domg ser- 
vice for the sick and the wounded, and the needy. 

But the vast majority of our people have given 
little or nothing, so that when we set on one side 
our swollen wealth, and on the other the sum total 
of our contributions to the sufferers in Europe and 
Asia, we see that as a nation we have done pitifully 
little. Australia has done more for the Belgian suf- 
ferers than this great, rich nation of ours. Many 
parts of our country seem quite untouched by this 
unprecedented misery and want of the world. The 
awful war that is desolating the human race seems 
to leave them indifferent and apathetic. It is as if 
millions of our people were playing the part of the 
rich fool in the parable, and saying: 

"Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many 
years. Take thine ease; eat, drink and be merry!" 

Meanwhile, what of the manhood of the nation? 
Is its fiber waxing stronger or weaker? Are its 
ideals purer, nobler, more inspiring? Or are they 
waxing ignoble and unworthy? 

Our Bishops have warned us that "unconsecrated 
prosperity is bound to cause manhood to decay"; 
and they add : 

*Tf America comes out of this day of world 
disorder richer in purse and poorer in manhood, 
she will invite the penalty of a debased national 



54 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

life, or even of losing her own soul. The peace 
that smothers the soul is as ruthless and inexorable 
as the war that mangles the bodies of its victims." 
Yes, my brethren, for well has the poet warned 
us — 

"111 fares the land, to hastening- ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates and men decay." 

2. Consider next the Stewardship of Republican 
Government bequeathed to us by our forefathers. 
Remember what our fathers did in the American 
Revolution. They abolished autocratic, personal 
government, and substituted a government founded 
on liberty and justice, — a government of the people, 
— a representative government speaking and acting 
through men chosen by the people to represent them, 
to make laws for them according to the mind of 
the people, without any class distinction. This 
solemn function of legislation was to be exercised 
under oath, in the fear of God, with careful in- 
vestigation and deliberate consideration for the good 
of the whole people. 

Now I ask how this sacred trust has been kept? 
How has this stewardship of Republican govern- 
ment been exercised by the American people during 
the past year? 

The answer that must be made is that in one 
conspicuous instance this stewardship has been be- 
trayed by our legislators. We have seen the high 
function of legislation, exercised in unseemly haste, 



AMERICA'S STEWARDSHIP 55 

— without full investigation, without due considera- 
tion, — and not with dignity and freedom, but under 
duress, under threat. Yes, we have seen our Con- 
gress coerced to put a law on the statute book, not 
for the benefit of the whole people, but in the in- 
terest of a class — a small fraction of the people — 
and not for their relief from injustice, not to lift 
a burden from their shoulders, not to break the 
yoke of poverty, or of unfair wages; no, for the 
men in whose interest this law was passed were the 
most highly paid workmen in the community — re- 
ceiving twice as much as the average clergyman 
in our church. 

Nor was it to shorten their hours of labor, but to 
give them power to compel their employers to in- 
crease their wages twenty-five per cent. 

My brethren, let no man think that I am lowering 
the plane of the pulpit in referring to this question 
— that I am bringing politics into the pulpit. No, 
for this is not properly speaking a party question, 
but a national one. It rises above party into the re- 
gion of the welfare of the nation. It is, in fact, a 
Constitutional question, — it concerns the sacredness 
of the fundamental principles on which our govern- 
ment rests. We cannot shut our eyes to the fact 
that the method of legislation prescribed by the 
Constitution has been set aside; and the practical 
question growing out of that fact, is whether the 
people shall be roused to a realization of this be- 



56 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

trayal of trust, so that by their indignation the 
wrong shall be rebuked and the Constitutional 
method re-established. 

Is it necessary to establish my assertion that this 
is not a party question ? Then, consider that the law 
in question was passed by the votes of both political 
parties, and hence both must share (though not 
equally) in the responsibility. And let me remind 
you that the ablest and most influential organ of 
the party in power described the Labor Law as 
"legislation extorted by threats,*' and declared the 
whole proceeding "a national humiliation'' adding 
that "to put up with it would be a disaster to the 
nation incomparably greater than any strike could 
inflict," and further that "if such an outrage can be 
put upon us unresisted we have lost our republican 
form of government." If these statements at all 
approximate the truth, then we are face to face with 
an event big with sinister significance to our Re- 
public. The day that law was passed our free 
institutions were betrayed, — not because the law was 
wrong in principle (of that I say nothing), but 
because it was passed under duress, under threat, 
in the fear of a class instead of in the fear of God; 
and that was unquestionably a betrayal of our 
republican form of government. For that day and 
that hour the government ceased to be a free gov- 
ernment and became a government under dictation, 
— it was legislation in fear of the lash! 



AMERICA'S STEWARDSHIP 57 

It follows that it becomes the duty of the pulpit 
to focus attention on this sinister fact and to lift up 
its voice in rebuke of it, if, by God's blessing it may 
help to awake the people to the very serious danger 
that threatens our free institutions in such legisla- 
tion as this. 

3. Turn we now in the third place to our Stew- 
ardship of influence and example as a member of 
the family of nations. A nation, like an individual, 
has a responsibility for the talents it has received 
from the God of nations, — for its influence, for its 
power; for its moral judgments, for its fidelity to 
its obligations to mankind. 

The gigantic statue which stands at the entrance 
to the harbor of New York, holding aloft the torch 
of Liberty, may fitly represent our great Republic, 
letting her light shine before the world, — the light 
of liberty and truth and justice and humanity — all 
those great principles with which in the providence 
of God she has been entrusted. 

Now the question that America ought to ask her- 
self on this Thanksgiving Day is this: Has she 
been faithful to this stewardship of influence and 
opportunity? Has she let her light shine before the 
nations of the earth as she ought to have done? 
Has she held aloft the light of liberty and justice 
and humanity? Have her moral judgments been 
true and clear, and have they been so clearly and 
bravely uttered that they have shone out as a beacon 



58 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

for the guidance of mankind, — a beacon of light 
in the darkness, — a beacon of encouragement for 
the weak, a beacon of hope for the oppressed? 

Two years ago a tremendous moral crisis broke 
upon the world. It confronted us. We could not 
escape it. It challenged our moral judgment. All 
Europe was plunged into war. It was a war of 
aggression — a war of conquest. Treaties were ruth- 
lessly violated. Peaceful countries were invaded. 
The invaders carried fire and sword wherever they 
went. Cities were given to the flames. Cathedrals 
were laid in ashes. Inoffensive and unarmed citi- 
zens, by hundreds and thousands, were shot to 
death. Every conceivable outrage was committed. 
Barbarous methods of warfare were adopted. The 
deeds of the Goths and Vandals were successfully 
emulated. And now for more than two years the 
most awful and destructive war that has ever devas- 
tated the world has been raging with ever-increasing 
fury, with ever-increasing slaughter. Millions of 
men have fallen, killed or wounded, in battle, and 
millions of women and children have suffered want 
and misery beyond reckoning. What was our duty, 
my brethren, in the presence of such a desolating 
scourge ? 

First, it was our duty to ask who kindled this 
conflagration? Who planned and prepared this 
war? Who had been getting ready for it for a 
generation? The answer was easy. By book and 



AMERICA'S STEWARDSHIP 59 

pamphlet, the leaders of one of the nations had 
avowed the purpose of the war and proclaimed it 
to the world. There was no concealment of the 
immense preparation for it, or of the boundless 
ambition that inspired it. Europe was to be bound 
to the chariot wheels of that one nation, which in 
the ultimate end was to dominate the world. 

America's first duty, then, was to recognize and 
declare the responsibility for the war. It was a 
moral judgment imperatively demanded of her. 
That judgment could not be evaded — could not be 
dodged — without moral culpability. 

Next, it was our duty to ask, What are these na- 
tions fighting for? Which of them is fighting for 
conquest? Which in self-defense? Which of them 
represent irresponsible autocracy, and which the 
principles of democracy ? Whose banners stand for 
personal tyranny? And whose for justice and 
liberty ? 

The answer to these questions was also easy. It 
was plain to see that Belgium and France were bat- 
tling to defend their soil from invasion. It was 
plain, also, that France and England stood for 
liberty and independence and self-government. It 
was, and is to-day, a tremendous death grapple be- 
tween liberty and tyranny, between self-government 
and autocracy. Again, in view of these condi- 
tions, America had a duty to perform. She was 



6o FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

called upon to make, and to declare, a moral judg- 
ment. It was her duty to declare on which side of 
this conflict her sympathies were ranged. Was she 
for the sacredness of treaties, or for their ruthless 
violation as meaningless scraps of paper ? Was she 
for the little nation struggling against the mighty 
invader? And did she line up in feeling with 
autocracy or democracy — with liberty or with 
tyranny? In other words, were we true to the 
principles of our forefathers, bequeathed us since 
1776, and would we boldly acknowledge our 
sympathy with the brave people who, with unstinted 
sacrifice and unexampled valor, were fighting our 
battles on the plains of France, — the battles of lib- 
erty and justice? 

But ought we not to be neutral in this great world 
war? Is not that the policy to which we are com- 
mitted ? 

My friends, this is before all things a tremendous 
moral issue — and I hold that just as it is impossible 
for a true man to be neutral on a moral question, 
so it ought also to be impossible for a nation to be 
neutral. And if our policy as a nation has been the 
policy of neutrality, the sooner that policy is aban- 
doned the better for the honor of the nation and 
the conscience of the people. 

I mean not that we should plunge into this war, 
but I do mean that we should cease to be dumb spec- 
tators of this tremendous assault on liberty and 



AMERICANS STEWARDSHIP 6i 

civilization and humanity, and that we should speak 
trumpet-tongued our indignation against it. The 
attitude of moral neutrality is unworthy of us. It 
is humiliating. It is the betrayal of our trust. As 
the mightiest and the wealthiest of the nations who 
are not engaged in this war, we have a vast moral 
influence, — and I hold that the whole weight of our 
moral influence should be thrown into the scale on 
the side of liberty and justice and civilization and 
humanity. 

Had this been done at the beginning of this 
struggle when Belgium was invaded in defiance of 
international treaty obligations, "it would have 
given us the moral leadership of the world, and 
made the United States the friend and the rallying 
center of all the neutral countries." And it would 
not have led tis into the war. On the other hand 
it would, in my judgment, have shortened the war. 

But we lost our opportunity. We stifled our 
feelings. We silenced our moral judgment. We 
tried to hide under a cloak of neutrality — and we 
lost our leadership among the nations. We became 
ciphers in the great struggle. 

But, my friends, it is not too late — I hope it is 
not too late — for America to change her policy — to 
throw to the winds this flimsy cloak of neutrality, 
and to adopt a policy worthy of her great traditions 
— worthy of the land of Washington; I mean, that 
while we are not called upon to participate in this 



62 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

war, we are called upon to let all the world know 
that we condemn the guilty nation that prepared it 
and precipitated it; that we detest and abhor the 
brutal manner in which that nation carried it on; 
and that as the heirs of democratic liberty our hearts 
are with the nations that are battling with such 
marvelous heroism against cruelty and tyranny. 

A new opportunity presents itself at the present 
juncture for the exercise of our moral influence for 
justice and humanity. To all her other outrages 
against civilization, the Teutonic powers have now 
added the infamous crime of enslaving a whole 
population. They are engaged at the present mo- 
ment in carrying into captivity 300,000 men (civ- 
ilians) from Belgium — to be put to involuntary 
labor in Germany. A while ago their armed legions 
in the dead of night seized thousands of young 
women in some of the French towns and carried 
them into involuntary servitude. "Now the tramp 
of soldiers is heard through Belgian towns and 
villages, and women, children and men are kid- 
napped right and left. It is terrible! Trains roll 
through Germany packed with human cattle. . . . 
At this rate we shall witness the wholesale deporta- 
tion of an entire people reduced to slavery. 
This is indeed a disaster worse than invasion, worse 
than the wholesale massacres of Louvain, Tamines, 
Dinant — worse even than the ceaseless persecution 



AMERICA'S STEWARDSHIP 63 

of the last two years" — worse than the confiscation 
of Belgium's food — worse than the levy of mil- 
lions of money upon the pillaged and impoverished 
towns. 

Here, I say, is a new opportunity for America to 
change her policy of passive indifference. Let her 
lift up her voice like a trumpet to rebuke with stem 
indignation this latest outrage upon an inoffensive 
people ! Let the government of our country protest 
against it so vigorously that the whole world shall 
hear the echo of our rebuke! Let the people de- 
nounce it from one end of the land to the other, as 
an act of barbarous cruelty worthy of the kings of 
Assyria 2,600 years ago! 

Dare we, as Americans, as descendants of the men 
who proclaimed the Declaration of Independence, 
and made it good at Bunker Hill and Saratoga and 
King's Mountain and Cowpens and Yorktown, — 
dare we be silent in the face of such a colossal crime 
against human liberty as this? 

Our President has well said, '*So far as America 
is concerned and her influence is involved, justice 
and liberty should be extended to mankind every- 
where." 

It is when we let the light of that clear utterance 
into our souls that we see how impossible it ought 
to be for America to restrain her indignation in 
the face of this barbarism of the Central Empires. 

Does America indeed stand like that Statue of 



64 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

Liberty holding up the torch of truth and justice for 
the enHghtenment of mankind? 

Then let her mighty voice be lifted up for those 
myriads of helpless people being dragged into 
slavery! *'The only thing" (again I quote President 
Wilson), "the only thing that will hold the world 
steady is the all-powerful opinion of mankind." 
Yes; but this "all-powerful opinion of mankind" 
must not be stifled — must not be gagged — must not 
be hushed into silence by the opiate of neutrality! 
No, it must find expression; it must make itself 
heard; it must speak as the oracle of God; as the 
witness of Eternal truth; as the echo of the Divine 
Justice, to rebuke such tyranny as this^ — to scorch 
it with the prophecy of the judgment of the God of 
righteousness. 



In conclusion, my friends and fellow citizens, let 
me say that this great and powerful Americati 
people has come to the parting of the ways. We 
face a tremendous and fateful issue. We can no 
longer halt and hesitate between two opinions. We 
can no longer take refuge in that refuge of lies — a 
neutral position. We must make our choice. 

Are we for liberty or for arbitrary power? For 
democracy or for irresponsible autocracy? For 
Christian civilization or for anti-Christian barbar- 
ism? Answer in the light of the Lusitania horror, 
in the light of the Zeppelin murders of women and 



AMERICANS STEWARDSHIP 65 

children, in the light of the alliance between a Eu- 
ropean power and the Mohammedan Empire, in 
the light of the unspeakable Armenian massacres, 
in the light of this latest outrage of which I have 
spoken to-day. 

I say, without hesitation, the cause of the Allies is 
the cause of personal liberty against irresponsible 
power; it stands for the freedom and independence 
of the nations; for the sacredness of treaties; for 
the accepted principles of international law; for 
pacific civilization against a civilization based on 
militarism. 

It is the cause of civic ideals against military 
ambition. It is a war of great principles. It is 
a fight against such ideas as these : 

The end of the State is power; 
Might makes right; 
The state has no moral obligations; 
Military necessity justifies any wrong, any injus- 
tice, any cruelty! 

Fellow citizens, and fellow Christians, I ask you. 
Can America hesitate when such an issue is pre- 
sented ? 

Rather let us follow the example of our sister 
republic, Brazil, which, in July, 191 6, boldly took 
the side of the Allies, declaring, "The tribunals of 
public opinion and conscience can not rest neutral 
between law and crime." 



eS FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

I tell you, my friends, it is a solemn and a fateful 
hour. We face a peril more serious than war — it 
is the peril of an atrophied moral nature. If we 
go on witnessing acts of cruelty without condemn- 
ing them — crimes against liberty, without protesting 
against them — outrages against humanity without 
denouncing them — the crucifixion of innocence 
without crying out in horror against it, — our moral 
nature will lose its fiber, our moral judgment will 
cease its ofBce, our conscience will become seared 
as with a hot iron, — our soul will become cold and 
sordid and selfish. If America, in this crucial hour, . 

commits herself to the guidance of that base and 1 

cowardly principle, "safety first," she may save her 
body, but she will lose her soul! And the loving 
Christ stands by, asking us to consider "What shall 
it profit a nation if she gain the whole world, and 
lose her own soul?" 



VI 



ISAIAH'S COUNSEL IN A GREAT NA- 
TIONAL CRISIS 

^'Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O 
My people that dwelleth in Zion, he not afraid of 
the Assyrians/' — Isaiah X, 24 "^ 

The words of the ancient prophet take us back 
2,600 years, i.e., to 721 B. C. Isaiah sees his people 
in the midst of a great national crisis. His country- 
stands face to face with Assyria, — a mighty nation, 
arrogant, brutal, successful, scornful, heartless, un- 
scrupulous, cruel. Sargon is its King, its Kaiser. 
He dominates the world of Isaiah's day. Damascus 
has fallen before him. Arpad and Hamath have 
been annihilated; Samaria, Judah's northern neigh- 
bor, has fallen before his resistless onslaught. Yes, 
this great Assyrian monarch handles the nations 
and their gods as playthings. His selfish, cruel 
force carries all before it. 

And now Judah and Jerusalem must face him! 
What can possibly save Jerusalem from his tal- 
ons? He has already swooped down upon Sa- 

* Sermon delivered in the Church of the Epiphany, Wash- 
ington, March 4th, 191 7. 

67 



68 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

maria and carried away her people into captivity 
with every circumstance of heartless brutality, men 
and women and children ! His armies are only two 
days' march away from the Jewish capital. Is there 
any salvation for it? 

"Ah yes," cried some of the people, our King, 
Ahaz, has made a treaty with Assyria. That is 
our reliance !" But do they forget that the Assyrian 
is unscrupulous? Will he respect the treaty if it 
stands in the way of his ambition? No, no, he will 
unhesitatingly overrun a tiny province like Judah. 
To Sargon, the Assyrian monarch, a treaty is no 
more than a bit of parchment, or papyrus, — a mere 
scrap of paper, as we would say. 

Isaiah is too clear-eyed to put any trust in As- 
syria's plighted faith. He knows she has no honor 
— no regard for the sacredness of a treaty. He 
knows that she will allow nothing to stand in the 
way of her ambition or her lust for conquest. She 
has set out to make herself mistress of the world — 
what does she care for the rights of small nations ? 
Might is the only right in her eyes. 

In vivid words the prophet describes the arrogant 
self-confidence of the Assyrian. "It is in his heart to 
destroy and cut off nations not a few." "Shall I 
not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so 
do to Jerusalem and her idols? By the strength of 
my hand I have done it ; I have removed the bounds 
of the people, and robbed their treasures, and I 



ISAIAH'S COUNSEL 69 

have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. 
And my hand hath found like a nest the riches of 
the people ; and as one gathereth eggs that are left, 
have I gathered all the earth." 

He believes in nothing but himself and his mili- 
tary might. But the prophet brings his people a 
gospel of deliverance; he bids them not fear the 
resistless might of the king of Assyria; he tells 
them the Assyrian is only the rod of God's anger; 
that he is but the axe in the hand of the Almighty ; 
that he is permitted to wield vast power in the earth, 
— but only up to a certain point. Then the omnipo- 
tent Lord of all the earth will interpose to rebuke 
his arrogance and to destroy his power. 

"When God shall have used him for the needed 
punishment of Judah, then shall God visit upon him 
his arrogance and brutality." The brute force of 
this great Assyrian, who handled the nations as his 
playthings, is nothing but an instrument, an axe, a 
saw, in the hand of the judge of all the earth. 
Isaiah in his sublime faith beholds him at the very 
moment of his triumph, when he is reaching out his 
hand over Jerusalem, struck down by the hand of 
Jehovah. He sees his world-power come crashing 
to the earth, like a great cedar of Lebanon! This 
is the prophet's gospel to his people: Put your 
trust in the God of your fathers, make Him your 
refuge, rely upon His omnipotent and loving power; 
He will make bare His mighty arm and deliver you 



70 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

from the pitiless hand of this arrogant conqueror. 

But before proclaiming this gospel of hope and 
deliverance the prophet utters a word of rebuke 
and warning to his people. He sees the peril of 
atheism in the situation. The people are overawed 
by the success of this great Assyrian power, — 
hurtling through the nations; laughing at their 
Gods as idols ; boasting that by his strength he will 
overcome them ; and to simple eyes making good his 
boast. 

All real faith in the God of Israel seems to be 
dying out; men were saying to themselves, **Our 
faith is vain, nothing can stand against this terrible 
world force that is destroying the nations 1" 

'Ts there, indeed, a supreme and righteous ruler 
of the world? After all, is not material force the 
only thing that rules on this earth ? We see a flood 
of heartless, unscrupulous, and scornful force burst- 
ing over the nations, with its challenge to make 
terms and pay tribute, or to go down straightway in 
the struggle for existence. This selfish, cruel force 
which is carrying all before it must really be the 
highest power in life." Against this skepticism, 
this faithless fear of material power, the prophet 
Isaiah warns his people; he rebukes them for their 
unbelief and calls them back to faith in the God of 
their fathers. He reminds them that through all 
their history Jehovah has been their refuge and 
their deliverer. 



ISAIAH'S COUNSEL 71 

He summons them to rally around the conviction 
that lay at the heart of their national history, that 
the God of righteousness and justice was their 
refuge and their strength and their hope. "God is 
our refuge and strength, a very present hope in 
trouble, therefore will we not fear. God is in 
the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will 
help her and that right early. The heathen raged, 
the kingdoms are moved, he uttered his voice, the 
earth melted. The Lord of Hosts is with us, the 
God of Jacob is our refuge." 

I need not say, my brethren, that the situation 
depicted by the ancient Jewish prophet 2,600 years 
ago, finds a clear and striking parallel in our own 
day. We, too, are confronted by an arrogant, un- 
scrupulous power which has set out to make herself 
mistress of the world; a power which rivals Assyria 
for heartless brutality and boundless ambition. 
Many also have been its successes; city after city, 
province after province, has fallen under its sway. 
It has carried devastation and destruction into many 
rich and fruitful regions; it has inflicted miseries 
and cruelties beyond the power of description upon 
multitudes of both men and women; and, now, this 
proud and mighty power threatens our own beloved 
country with the horrors of war. Against our will, 
against our natural instincts, we are being driven 
into conflict with it. 

In the face of such a situation as this what is the 



^2 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

message of the Christian prophet to the people of 
God ? My brethren, it is, first of all, a rebuke to the 
skepticism and doubt which has arisen in many 
hearts, and which has found frequent expression in 
the press, — either that there is no God, or that He 
has nothing to do with the affairs of men ; — that the 
idea of a God in history who guides and overrules 
the development of human affairs is an exploded 
idea, which intelligent men can no longer main- 
tain. I am here to-day to challenge this doubt and 
to reassert with full and unshaken conviction my 
faith in the Providence of God; I am here to say 
to you that this brutally arrogant and unscrupulous 
power which boasts itself invincible, is but the rod 
in the hand of the Almighty for the chastisement 
of the nations of the world until the time comes, 
fixed in His inscrutable wisdom, when, like some 
great cedar of Lebanon it shall come crashing in 
ruin to the earth. I am here to say to you that 
moral and spiritual forces must in the end prevail 
over material forces; that shot and shell and Zep- 
pelins and torpedoes must succumb at last before 
righteousness and justice and truth! I am here to 
bring to you the gospel of trust in the omnipotence 
of the God of righteousness, and to tell you that as 
He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him, so He 
will make all this unscrupulous cruelty, all this 
misery and wretchedness and brutal oppression, 
work together for the good of man, for the promo- 



ISAIAH'S COUNSEL 73 

tion of true religion, — yes, for the ultimate spread 
of brotherly kindness between the nations of the 
earth. 

But we are told that this war demonstrates the 
failure of the Christian religion; that it shows that 
the principles which Christ announced not only have 
not succeeded in governing mankind, but they can- 
not succeed; that the whole system is unworkable 
and impracticable. Allow me to show you, if I 
may, the error of such a view. 

Consider it in the first place from the practical 
point of view. And here let me say that all the 
evidence available goes to show that Christianity 
has become more real and vital both in France and 
in England since this war began, than it was before. 
That both these nations have been wonderfully re- 
generated in vigor and in national devotion is 
universally recognized. But it is just as true that 
there has been going on among them a process 
of religious regeneration. It can be confidently 
afifirmed that there are more earnest Christians in 
both these countries to-day than there were three 
years ago. 

Consider, in the next place, that the inspired 
writers of the New Testament continually warn the 
churches of the danger of apostasy, — of the neces- 
sity of holding fast the truth of God which they 
have received; and then observe that this tremen- 
dous and awful war can be distinctly traced to the 



74 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

abandonment over wide areas of the Christian faith 
as it is presented to us in the New Testament. That 
the leading thinkers in the regions to which I allude 
have allowed a false and un-Christian philosophy to 
elbow out the Christian conception of life and con- 
duct and duty. How far this abandonment of 
Christianity has proceeded may be seen in the 
shameful fact that this arrogant and masterful 
power has allied itself with Mohammedanism, — the 
age-long enemy of the Christian religion, — and 
has, in the pursuit of its boundless ambition, brought 
about the proclamation of a Holy War by the 
Moslem power all over the world against the nations 
which it has unscrupulously attacked; so that it is 
not Christianity which has failed but it is a certain 
part of the people called Christians who have been 
untrue to the faith which they have professed. 

Consider also that through all the darkness and 
horror of this tremendous war with its carnage 
and its misery and its bloodshed there have shone 
out countless brilliant deeds of Christian love by 
Christian men even to their bitterest enemies; and 
then consider that when God created man a free 
agent it became inevitable that upon his free choice 
must depend the moral development of mankind; 
and that such is the wisdom and the power of the 
great God of heaven and earth that He will use 
oftentimes the evil choice and the wickedness of 



ISAIAH'S COUNSEL 75 

men as instruments to accomplish His holy purpose 
on this earth. 

As an example of this, remember the words of 
Christ to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor: 
"Thou couldst have no power at all against me ex- 
cept it were given thee from above.'' These words 
of the Saviour of the world show us that even the 
treachery of Judas, and the hatred of the Jewish 
rulers, and the cruelty of the Roman soldiers, be- 
came instruments in the hands of Divine Providence 
in the working out of His purpose of infinite love 
for the redemption and salvation of the world. In 
the light of this divine utterance we may dare to 
say that the wicked power which is now seeking to 
dominate the world will ultimately be seen to be the 
rod of the Almighty to accomplish His will and that 
this awful war will in the ultimate development of 
the providence of God be an illustration of the 
inspired assurance that "All things work together 
for good to them that love God." 

"We already thank God for this awful war," said 
the Bishop of Worcester to me. 

Here then is a great lesson for us to lay to 
heart: do not let us cower in abject fear before 
this vast world force ; do not let us yield to the faith- 
less thought that the selfish, cruel power which we 
see carrying all before it in some parts of the world 
is the highest power in life; do not let us yield to 
the timid thought that truth and honesty and hu- 



76 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

manity, are after all but the playthings and vic- 
tims of force. On the other hand, — while as a 
nation we must put forth all the strength that 
God gives us to preserve the liberty and independ- 
ence which we have received as a heritage from our 
fathers, do not let us put our trust in material 
force, however splendidly organized, but rather let 
us believe with all our hearts that it is righteous- 
ness that exalteth a nation; that it is righteousness 
that saveth a nation; that, to use the language of 
Major General Bell, — "it is character that wins 
under fire, not ability or knowledge, but character" ; 
and that truth and justice must in the end triumph 
over brute force because there is a supreme and 
righteous Ruler of the world. Above all let not 
any Christian man be cowed by the great brazen 
laugh of the world, — or lose his faith in the beauty 
of purity and honor, and in the glory and splendor 
of the religion of Jesus Christ. 

In one of the ruined villages on the battle front 
in France, a strange sight was presented. The 
church which had withstood the storms of more 
than three centuries, had been terribly battered by 
shot and shell. Half the steeple was gone ; the other 
seemed ready to fall. The roof had fallen in. The 
windows had been crushed. The figures of the 
saints had been blown to bits. All was desolation 
and destruction. Even the grave stones had been 
shattered by the shells. But one object stood un- 



ISAIAH'S COUNSEL j'j 

harmed, untouched: — the great Cross with the 
figure of the crucified Christ! There it stood un- 
scathed. Not a shell had touched it. Not a bullet 
had pierced the sacred body. His arms remained 
outstretched in intercession for a sinful world amid 
the fiery blasts of the battle ! 

All was marred and blasted and destroyed save 
Jesus only. He was untouched ! 

The clock in the steeple was silent and in ruins — 
it was the symbol of Time ! 

The Crucifix continued to speak, it was the symbol 
of Eternity and Eternal love. And not all the din 
and clamor of the terrible battle could hush the 
voice of mercy that spoke to the beholder from those 
silent lips of Love: "Father, forgive them.*' 

My brethren, it is a symbol of the fact that the 
memory and the message of the Cross of Christ 
cannot be silenced even by this awful War. It will 
survive all changes, all shocks. Christ and His 
Cross will never lose its power over the human 
heart. 

Meanwhile, my dear friends and fellow citizens, 
let us not fail to lay to heart the message which 
this titanic struggle brings to the people of America, 
especially if it shall turn out that in spite of all 
our efforts for peace, it becomes necessary for us 
to face the sufferings and sacrifices of war. 

Oh, if we will be still and listen for the voice 
of God, we will hear the trumpet calling us to re- 



78 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

pentance, — repentance for our national sins; for 
our ungodliness, for our unbelief, for our neglect 
of the Bible, for our scorn of the church of God, 
for our profanation of the Lord's day, for our 
selfish luxury, for our carnal profligacy. These 
national sins invite the judgment of God! And 
the church, too, must search and try her ways. 
Christians must repent of their lukewarmness, of 
the unreality and formalism of their religion. And 
the church in all its branches, in all its forms, must 
arouse herself to Christianize this nominally Chris- 
tian land. 

She must broaden and intensify her efforts to 
make America a really Christian country. 

Finally, men and brethren, in this great national 
crisis God calls us to personal repentance. He calls 
the individual man to whom I speak to-day to 
"repent and believe the gospel" — "Seek ye the Lord 
while He may be found, call ye upon Him while 
He is near ; let the wicked forsake his way, and the 
unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return 
unto the Lord and He will have mercy upon him; 
and to our God for He will abundantly pardon." 

Yes, my friends, if we will consider the situation 
in which we stand at this hour, I think the words 
of the ancient prophet will re-echo in our hearts: 
"Prepare to meet thy God." 



VII 

AMERICA SUMMONED TO A HOLY WAR* 

"And I rose up and said unto the nobles, and to 
the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not 
ye afraid of them; remember the Lord, which is 
great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your 
sons and your daughters, your wives and your 
houses!' — Nehemiah IV, 14. 

The function of the ancient Jewish prophet was 
by no means Hmited to moral and rehgion instruc- 
tion. Both the national and international interests 
of his people claimed his attention and were made 
the subject of his counsel. He did not hesitate to 
criticize the public policy of the government. He 
would sometimes denounce a proposed alliance with 
some other nation. On the other hand, he would 
advocate an alliance which he deemed wise and safe. 
Scanning the horizon from his prophetic watch- 
tower, he would warn the king and people of ap- 
proaching danger to the nation, and when a foreign 

* Delivered in the Church of the Epiphany, Washing- 
ton, D. C, Palm Sunday evening, April i, 1917, on the eve 
of the assembling of Congress. 

79 



8o FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

enemy threatened invasion of the land, he would 
lift up his voice in the name of the Lord God as 
a divine messenger to rouse the people to prepare 
for war and to resist oppression. The two great 
principles which informed and inspired his prophetic 
utterances were liberty and justice^ — political liberty 
and social justice. Moses on the mountain top, 
lifting up his hands in prayer to the Lord of Hosts, 
while Joshua and the Hebrew warriors fought with 
Amalek in the plain below, presents a picture typical 
of the function of the Iraelitish prophet. 

Our text gives us a striking example of the place 
which the Prophet held among the people of God. 
Nehemiah, engaged with his people in rebuilding of 
the walls of Jerusalem, having received intelligence 
of the approach of hostile bands designing to attack 
them, addresses himself to the nobles and rulers and 
the rest of the people, as follows : "Be not ye afraid 
of them; remember the Lord, which is great and 
terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons and 
your daughters, your wives and your houses." 

The circumstances under which we meet to-day, 
my brethren, are not dissimilar to those which con- 
fronted the Jewish leader and his people on this 
occasion. A powerful and unscrupulous foe beyond 
the seas is levying war upon the United States, 
sinking our ships, murdering our citizens without 
mercy, forbidding our merchantmen the freedom of 



AMERICA SUMMONED TO HOLY WAR 8i 

the seas, secretly plotting an alliance with Mexico 
and Japan against our national integrity. 

What now is the duty of the Christian minister 
to his people and to the public in this crisis? The 
answer in my opinion cannot be doubtful. He 
should say to them as Nehemiah said, **Be not ye 
afraid of them; remember the Lord, which is great 
and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons 
and your daughters, your wives and your houses." 
Yes, I hold that he who speaks for God should not 
be dumb at such a moment, that he should not avoid 
discussing the national crisis as if it lay outside 
his vocation as a minister of Christ. Equally do 
I repudiate the counsel of the pacifists who falsely 
invoke the Christian religion on behalf of the policy 
of non-resistance, who maintain indeed that war is 
never justifiable and that no Christian man can 
consistently take any part in war, even in repelling 
the invasion of his country. No, there is no basis 
in the Bible for cowardly submission to tyranny or 
invasion. On the contrary, the Bible everywhere 
exhorts us to stand for righteousness and justice 
and liberty, and to resist tyranny and wrong. Listen 
to the words of another of the ancient prophets: 
"He that dasheth in pieces has come up before thy 
face; keep the munition, watch the way, make thy 
loins strong, fortify thy power mightily" (Nahum 

II, I). 

The ancient worthies whose examples are set 



82 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

before us in Holy Writ, the heroes and martyrs of 
the Christian Church, have ever displayed a firm 
resolve to resist the invader and the oppressor, and 
to stand bravely for human rights and for national 
safety. 

These pacifists have as little of the spirit of manly 
religion as they have of true patriotism. They 
would have taken the sword from the hands of 
Judas Maccabeus when he drew it in defense of 
his country against the unspeakable tyranny of 
Antiochus Epiphanes! They would have snatched 
the pen from Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock 
and George Washington when. they came forward 
to sign the Declaration of Independence! They 
would have sent the embattled farmers home from 
Concord and Bunker Hill! They would have 
preached submission at Valley Forge ! 

Let me say then, as plainly and as strongly as I 
can, speaking as a minister of Christ, speaking as 
a messenger of God, speaking with a solemn sense 
of the obligations of my sacred office, speaking in 
the sanctuary of Christ, and with a full sense of my 
accountability for every word I utter in this holy 
place, — that it is the high and sacred duty of the 
American people to take up the gage of battle which 
Germany has thrown down to us and to prosecute 
the war against her with all our energy and with 
every resource at our command — not hesitatingly, 
not half-heartedly, but with all our hearts and with 



AMERICA SUMMONED TO HOLY WAR 83 

every pound of energy at our command, realizing 
the vast interests at stake, the tremendous conse- 
quences for weal or woe dependent upon its issue. 

The Christ who smote with the sword of His 
mouth the hypocrites who oppressed the widows and 
orphans in His day would not rebuke the United 
States for drawing the sword in defense of inno- 
cent, helpless women and girls from the outrages 
of a brutal soldiery. The Christ who before Pontius 
Pilate declared that if His kingdom were of this 
world His soldiers would fight, would not condemn 
the United States, which is a government of this 
world, for sending forth her armies to defend the 
cause of justice and humanity. The Christ who 
used physical violence to cleanse the temple will 
not rebuke the United States for using the violence 
of war to cleanse the earth of the foul domination of 
this ruthless nation which stops at no outrage in its 
vast attempt to establish dominion over the whole 
earth. The Christ who is the King of Righteousness 
will not condemn this republic for taking her place 
in the ranks of the peoples who are so nobly battling 
for right and justice in the earth. The Christ who 
is "first King of Righteousness and then King of 
Peace" will surely approve of our resolve to recog- 
nize no peace which is not founded on justice and 
equity. 

There are several considerations of great moment 
to which I desire to invite your attention. I beg 



84 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

of you in the first place to realize the colossal pro- 
portions and the ultimate aim of this tremendous 
war. It is not merely an European War — it is not 
merely a strife against England and France and Rus- 
sia and Italy. It is the culmination of a long pre- 
pared effort to establish a Pan-German Empire, with 
no less an object than the Prussianization of the 
world. With all the formidable tenacity and 
methodical thoroughness which characterize the 
Prussian people, this gigantic plot has been 
steadily pushed for more than twenty years past. 
The plan is clearly mapped out in a book 
by Otto Tannenberg, called "The Greater Germany, 
the Work of the Twentieth Century," which 
appeared at Leipsic in the year 191 1. In this 
book we have an exact program of the seizures to 
be effected in Europe and Turkey with the purpose 
of establishing an empire extending from Hamburg 
through Constantinople and Bagdad to the Persian 
Gulf. 

This stupendous project to which the German 
leaders long ago committed themselves, plans to 
make Germany master of Austria, of the Balkans, 
of Turkey in Europe, of Turkey in Asia, and to 
extend its power to the very Persian Gulf itself. 
But even this is not the full extent of the boundless 
ambition of the Emperor and his satellites. Asia 
Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Western 
Asia and the greater part of Arabia would pass 



AMERICA SUMMONED TO HOLY WAR 85 

under the absolute protectorate of the German 
Empire. 

Tannenberg further advocates territorial acquisi- 
tions in Africa, in Oceanica and in America, as the 
perfectly logical consequence of the accomplishment 
of the Hamburg to the Persian Gulf project. In 
America his plan embraced the seizure of Brazil, 
Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Chili. These 
are his words : ''German South America will provide 
for us in the temperate zone a colonial region where 
our immigrants will be able to settle as farmers. 
Chili and Argentina will preserve their language 
and their autonomy, but we shall require that in the 
schools German shall be taught as a second 
language. Southern Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay 
are countries of German culture ; German will there 
be the National tongue." * 

This book of Tannenberg's is only one of a group, 
which reveals the boundless ambition of the Em- 
peror and his counselors. It makes it very plain 
that this immense war, the most tremendous that 
the world has ever known, concerns us in the United 
States in a very real and direct fashion. 

But it is not only the vast schemes of Pan-Ger- 
manism that bring the United States into relation 
with this immense war. It is not only that the 
conquest of Europe and of Asia Minor would be 

* See "The Pan-German Plot Unmasked," p. 105 by Andre 
Cheradame. 



86 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

preliminary to conquests in the Western Hemi- 
sphere which Germany has in view, but it is the 
great principles which are really involved in this 
conflict that chiefly concern us. It might be said, 
Why should not the German Empire become so 
vast as to realize this dream of Pan-Germanism? 
might it not be better for the world to be under the 
government of such a power as Germany? might not 
her immense efliciency in every sphere of life and 
activity be a great advantage to the nations brought 
under her sway? But, my friends, as you well 
know, there is another aspect to this question. The 
nations engaged in this great conflict represent cer- 
tain principles of immense importance, — funda- 
mental principles mutually antagonistic, great ideals 
of a totally opposite character. It is not merely a 
struggle for territory, for power, for economic and 
commercial advantage, for the markets of the world, 
for the nerves of commerce and business. No, be- 
yond all this, it is a conflict between irresponsible 
autocracy on the one hand and ordered liberty on 
the other. Germany stands for the autocrat, for 
the suppression of individuality, for the repres- 
sion of liberty, for the refusal of really representa- 
tive government. England and France, and now 
Russia herself, stand for the great principles of 
democracy, of liberty and justice and representative 
government, for freedom of speech and of the press, 
for freedom of conscience, for the real freedom of 



AMERICA SUMMONED TO HOLY WAR 87 

the seas. These are the chief principles at stake. 
This is the real significance of this vast and tremen- 
dous conflict. This is, above all, the reason why the 
great Republic of America and every patriotic 
citizen within her borders, is vitally interested in the 
issue of this war. This is why, even if we were 
not challenged to war by Germany as we are to-day, 
it would be at once our highest interest and our most 
sacred duty to take our part, with all the force that 
we can exert, with all the resources at our com- 
mand, on the side of these liberty-loving peoples 
who have drawn the sword in the defense of human 
rights, yes, of humanity itself. 

I tell you, my friends, our liberties are involved 
in the issue of this struggle; our freedom as a na- 
tion, our existence as a democratic representative 
government. If Germany triumphs, woe to Amer- 
ican independence, woe to American ideals, woe to 
American peace and happiness! 

But I take higher ground. I call upon America 
to recognize the S. O. S. call of our brothers in 
France and England and Russia and Italy, to save 
them from the peril of Prussianism, to take our 
stand at their side in the defense of liberty and 
civilization and humanity, not for anything that we 
can gain, not even to protect anything that we might 
lose, but for the love of those great principles which 
we have received as a heritage from our fathers, 
and which it is our solemn and sacred duty to de- 



88 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

fend, if need be, with the last drop of our bloody 
For I beg of you to realize that the responsibility 
of this awful war rests upon the military leaders 
of Prussia. The attempts to make England or 
France or Russia responsible for it have absolutely 
failed. The pretexts upon which these attempts 
were built up have been torn to tatters, not a shred 
of fact remains at this day. It has passed into his- 
tory beyond the possibility of revision, that the 
Prussian power has been preparing for this war for 
many years, that it has been precipitated in the ful- 
fillment of a vast and ambitious scheme which has 
no parallel in history. It is now seen that for more 
than twenty years Germany has been spinning her 
webs in all neutral countries. She had set on foot 
a world-wide propaganda which is without pre- 
cedent in its immensity. The whole ambitious 
scheme presents a phenomenon without parallel in 
the records of time. She chose the means and the 
moment for precipitating a war upon Europe, and 
so well were her schemes laid that they almost suc- 
ceeded. It is also now an indisputable fact that 
England, France, and Russia and Italy have been 
dragged into this war against their will, and they 
are fighting not for territorial aggrandizement but 
for liberty and international justice. 

Furthermore, I beg you to remember that those 
heroic soldiers of France and England and Russia 
are really fighting our battles. They are shedding 



AMERICA SUMMONED TO HOLY WAR 89 

their blood for the great principles upon which our 
Republic rests. They are fighting with such mag- 
nificent self-sacrifice for democracy and liberty and 
international justice. Those blood-soaked trenches 
across the whole breadth of Europe are the break- 
water that is keeping back the flood of tyranny that 
would otherwise sweep away the foundations upon 
which the fabric of our independence and of our 
rights and liberties rests. Yes, the armies of the 
Allies are really safeguarding the future of this 
great Republic. This is not a rash statement or 
an ill-considered opinion. It is the firm conviction 
of many of our best thinkers, who clearly under- 
stand that the victory of Germany would unques- 
tionably mean serious peril to the independence of 
the United States. Listen to these words of ex- 
President Eliot of Harvard University: "The 
quickest, the best, the surest means for Americans 
to defend themselves against a German invasion 
is to conclude with France and England a permanent 
alliance, offensive and defensive, having for its aim 
the maintenance of the freedom of the seas for the 
AlHes and resistance to any maritime attack. It is 
time for all Americans to take sides openly with 
the European peoples that for so many long months 
have been standing up against the military despotism 
of Prussia." 

It would be easy to quote the utterances of prom- 
inent Germans, to the same effect; for instance, 



90 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

this : "Some months after we have done our business 
in Europe, we shall take New York and probably 
Washington*'; and this: "We shall extract one or 
two billions of dollars from New York and other 
points." (Admiral von Goetzen.) 

I offer a third consideration which should have 
a powerful influence in deciding our duty at this 
critical moment. Let me say to you, my friends, 
that if the Congress of the United States, which 
assembles to-morrow, shall recognize the fact that 
Germany has long been committing acts of war 
against this country, and is in fact at war with us 
at this hour, sinking our ships and murdering our 
citizens and plotting against the integrity of our 
national domain, and shall therefore declare war 
against Germany in self-defense, it will not only 
be a justifiable war, a war which we have not pro- 
voked, a war which we have not desired and do 
not desire, a war having in it no ulterior purpose of 
aggression or aggrandizement, — solely and purely a 
war to vindicate our national honor and to protect 
the rights and liberties of our people — but beyond 
and above all this, it will be in the highest sense of 
the word a Holy war, a war to save all that is best 
and holiest in civilization, a war to save mankind 
from the dominance of an evil and malign power 
which has shown itself during more than two years 
of conflict, to be destitute not only of all sense of 
honor and truth and loyalty to its plighted faith, but 



AMERICA SUMMONED TO HOLY WAR 91 

destitute also of humanity and mercy and of all 
regard for the principles of morality recognized 
among civilized nations. 

I am glad to make my own the editorial utterance 
of one of our great dailies : ''We favor therefore a 
flat-footed declaration of war upon Germany, rather 
than a semi-evasive recognition that a state of war 
exists. Germany should be arraigned before the 
world for high crimes and misdemeanors and war 
denounced against her for the purpose of punishing 
her past offenses and restraining her in the future." 

I cannot undertake a recapitulation of the in- 
famous crimes that the Government of Germany has 
committed against mankind — the violation of trea- 
ties, the burning and looting of cities, the poisoning 
of wells, the wholesale murder of inoffensive civ- 
ilians, both men and women, the atrocious Zeppelin 
raids upon undefended cities, the atrocious and 
heartless cruelties connected with her submarine 
warfare, the sinking of hospital ships, the robbery 
and spoliation of inoffensive citizens, the deporta- 
tion of thousands of women and girls into atrocious 
slavery, her connivance at the immense Armenian 
massacres. 

To all this she has now added the immeas- 
urable atrocities which have accompanied the 
evacuation of territory in Northern France. She 
has been guilty of a vandalism that has scarcely a 
parallel in all history, and the devastation that her 



92 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

soldiers have committed under orders of her officers, 
have to a large extent had no relation to military 
necessity or military advantage. They have fulfilled 
the description which the Prophet gave of old of 
^he invasion of a ruthless army : ''The land was as 
the Garden of Eden before them and behind them 
a desolate wilderness." (Joel.) The human sav- 
agery exhibited by the German Armies in this 
retreat reveals the blackness of the German soul. 
All their frightfulness in Belgium and Servia was a 
minor thing compared to the unspeakable frightful- 
ness of their devastation, literally their destruction, 
of the fair fields of France, in their recent retreat. 
No wonder an editor in our secular press has 
exclaimed, "Our duty to God and man is to aid in 
the chastisement of the war monster. Let us join 
in punishing the guilty and securing such compensa- 
tion as can be wrested from Germany for her 
victims." 

I have no hesitation then in saying that the voice 
of a just God summons us to this War and that it 
is in the highest sense of the word a Holy War. 
The people of the Middle Ages flocked to the stand- 
ard of the Cross for what seemed to them a holy 
purpose^ — the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre from 
the defiling touch of the unbeliever. But, my 
friends, those Crusades shrink into insignificance 
compared with the crusade to which we are sum- 
moned at the present moment. It is not to rescue 



AMERICA SUMMONED TO HOLY WAR 93 

a sepulchre from the hands of the Mohammedans 
to which we are called, but to rescue brave and 
noble peoples from the unspeakable cruelty and bru- 
tality of a powerful confederation of nations mar- 
shalled under the Prussian Eagle — nay, to rescue 
the civilized world itself from the talons of a mon- 
ster more merciless than the eagle towards his prey. 
The cruelty, the rapacity, the savagery of Prussian- 
ism is not a matter of opinion, or the indictment of 
prejudice, but a hideous fact which we have seen 
with our own eyes during the last two years or 
more. No words can tell its abomination. Indeed, 
the principle is avowed in so many words by emi- 
nent representatives of the German Empire. Thus 
Maximilian Harden has declared: "Every means 
will be enthusiastically employed against her en- 
emies by the German people. We will go back to 
the times of savagery when man was a wolf for his 
fellowman." * 

Will America halt and hesitate in the presence of 
such an issue as this? Will she listen to the siren 
song of the pacifists who have flocked to Washing- 
ton in such numbers at this present moment, with the 
purpose of weakening the resolve of our legislators 
to vindicate the honor of the United States, — nay, 
to defend our rights and liberties against insolent 
aggression and outrageous invasion? Will she not 
have discernment to perceive that this pacifist move- 
* Quoted by Le Temps, Feb. 9, 1916. 



94 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

ment is inspired partly by disloyalty to the Republic, 
and organized by the spies and plotters who are paid 
to do the bidding of Germany in our midst? I do 
not deny that some of these preachers of "peace at 
any price," some of these advocates of national dis- 
honor, are well meaning enthusiasts, misguided 
theorists, whose judgment has gone astray and 
whose brains are so bewildered that they can no 
longer recognize the path of national duty and na- 
tional honor, though it stretches out plainly before 
them — but I tell you, my friends, the great body of 
these pacifists are the secret agents of Prussianism, 
and that procession of pacifists which was to march 
the streets of Washington to-morrow, should have 
been marshaled under the flag of Prussia. 

They are flooding the press with advertisements 
appealing to the women of the country to save their 
sons, their husbands and their sweethearts from the 
carnage of the battlefield, — seeking to blind them to 
the real issue, which is brave resistance to tyranny, 
or cowardly submission to foreign dictation— cour- 
ageous battle side by side with the conquering le- 
gions of the Allies against the forces of tyranny and 
barbarism, or craven submission now at the cost of 
a far more terrible conflict with little hope of suc- 
cess in the years to come! 

I, for my part, do not believe that the spirit of 
patriotism and liberty is dead in this land of our 
love. No, the American people will demand of their 



AMERICA SUMMONED TO HOLY WAR 95 

legislators that they take up the gage of battle which 
has been insolently thrown down to us by this arro- 
gant power that seeks to dominate the earth, and that 
we hasten to place ourselves by the side of those 
gallant peoples who have now for more than two 
years been fighting our battles in Europe and Asia, 
— resolved that all the immense resources of our 
great Republic shall be employed to turn the scale 
of this world war, so that complete victory shall 
crown the efforts of the Allies, and Prussian mili- 
tarism shall be crushed, and the German people, as 
well as the other peoples of Europe, delivered from 
the yoke of the Hohenzollern dynasty. 



VIII 

THE DUTY OF THE HOUR * 

'^Suffer no man to remain in the camp, hut let all 
come to the battle." — I Maccabees V. 42. 

These were the words of that vaHant hero, Judas 
Maccabeus, at a crisis in his country's history, when 
confronted by a great host of the enemies of the 
Lord's people. 

They seem fitting words to-day, as I contemplate 
the conditions that confront the American people at 
this juncture of our national affairs, because they 
express the conviction that the crisis demands the 
active aid of every one of the people. *' Suffer no 
m^n to remain in the camp, hut let all come to the 
battle" 

It must be urged from time to time, by the lead- 
ers of public opinion, that the tremendous struggle 
upon which the country has entered in this world 
war is one that concerns every one of our citizens; 
and this must be done so earnestly and so frequently 
that it cannot be forgotten, or suffered to fall into 
the background of our thoughts. 

It is the people's war — the whole people. It is a 

* An Appeal for the Liberty Loan given in the Church 
of the Epiphany, Washington, D. C, Sunday, Oct. 21, 1917. 

96 



THE DUTY OF THE HOUR 97 

war commanded by the people, waged by the sons of 
the people, waged for the people. It is for their lib- 
erty, for their free institutions, for their deliverance 
from a fate too cruel to contemplate. And the battle 
must be fought not only by the soldiers and sailors 
at the front, but by all the people — men, women and 
children. Therefore, "Suffer no man to remain in 
the camp, hut let all come to the battle f 

I. First of all, my brethren, I would summon you 
to do your part in the battle by investing in the sec- 
ond issue of the Liberty Bonds. 

The Episcopal Church has named a war commis- 
sion, under the presidency of Bishop William Law- 
rence of Massachusetts, and this commission has 
within the past week sent out a letter to the clergy 
of the Church, giving some account of the work it 
has inaugurated for the Church and the nation, and 
asking the patriotic support of every parish. 

I mention it here because one of its suggestions to 
the clergy is they should not fail to do all in their 
power to recommend the Liberty Loan to their peo- 
ple, urging upon them '^ the patriotic and moral duty 
of every citizen to make his substance count in the 
great struggle that the Umted States is waging on 
his behalf for Liberty and Righteousness/' 

Let me then press upon you the duty of respond- 
ing to the appeal of the President by subscribing to 
this great Loan, not in my own name only but in the 
name of the Church of which you are members. 



98 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

The reasons for doing so are clear and strong. 

( 1 ) Your government has bravely assumed enor- 
mous financial obligations for the conduct of this 
war, which is waged for your safety and for your 
liberty. Ought you not to help bear those obliga- 
tions? Can you honorably refuse to do so? Will 
you claim and enjoy the splendid benefits of the vic- 
tory that will be won, and yet refuse to do your 
part to secure it? 

(2) Your President is bearing with splendid 
courage the heaviest burden ever laid on a ruler^s 
shoulders. Should you not, as a patriotic citizen, 
help him bear it? And can you doubt that the suc- 
cess of this vast Loan will greatly cheer his heart? 

(3) These billions the people are asked to lend 
the government will supply arms, food and clothing 
to our soldiers and sailors, guns and munitions, 
ships and airplanes — in a word, they will contribute 
to put the might of America into this conflict, and 
enable her to strike a mortal blow at autocracy in 
defense of the liberties of mankind and of justice, 
civilization and humanity. Will any true hearted 
American citizen withhold his help in such a cause? 

(4) This Loan will also assist the nations with 
whom we are making common cause against a com- 
mon foe — ^glorious France, who gave us the help 
that enabled us to win our independence — and old 
England, our mother, the maker of our civilization 
and the mother of the great principles of liberty and 



THE DUTY OF THE HOUR 99 

self-government which are our most precious heri- 
tages. 

Will any generous heart begrudge these, our he- 
roic Allies, the aid we can give them — especially 
when we remember that they have been fighting our 
battles for nearly three years before we took up the 
gage ourselves? 

( 5 ) Again, this Liberty Loan is to be our instru- 
ment to restore peace to the world, real, lasting 
peace — not a sham peace which conceals the dagger 
of a future war under her pacific garb. I say to re- 
store peace to a suffering world in the only way it 
can be done, by crushing the remorseless machine 
that is destroying the happiness and the liberty of 
mankind. 

Where is the man who loves righteousness, and 
pities the oppressed, who will not be eager to have 
a share in such a blessed consummation ? 

There is one very impressive fact just reported in 
connection with the subscriptions to the Loan : 

Twenty-six millions have been subscribed by sol- 
diers in our army. Think of it! These men who 
have already given to the cause everything that a 
man holds dear — now devote their money also to 
the cause ! It has not been enough for these patriots 
to offer on the national altar their civil careers, their 
independence, their freedom of action, their very 
lives — they give also their means. Having surren- 
dered, many of them, lucrative positions and left 



loo FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

happy homes, and severed the tenderest domestic 
ties, to serve their country — as soon as this appeal 
of the President reaches their ears, they spring for- 
ward to make a further sacrifice to make sure that 
the Hun shall be beaten to the dust! 

Can we look upon such a supreme example of 
patriotism and not be moved? Shall not we too 
eagerly demand the privilege of writing our names 
upon the Honor Roll of those who in this crisis will 
respond to their country^s call? 

Let me echo the words of the President, ''To sub- 
scribe to the Liberty Loan is to perform a service of 
patriotism." And may we all join in his aspiration, 
"Let the result be so impressive and emphatic that it 
will echo throughout the empire of our enemy as an 
index of what America intends to do to bring this 
war to a victorious conclusion." 

Yes, my friends, so sure am I of this that I do 
not hesitate to say that you may count your sub- 
scription a real blow for liberty. Aye, believe me, 
every $50 invested in a Liberty Bond is another nail 
driven into the coffin of Prussianism ! 

2. But the summons to battle has a wider applica- 
tion than to the duty of supporting this Second Lib- 
erty Loan. It is not too much to say that there is a 
new national crisis upon us demanding a fresh con- 
secration to the great and holy cause to which the 
nation was summoned on the sixth day of April 
last. 



THE DUTY OF THE HOUR loi 

The response of our people to the clarion call of 
our President has been splendid. 

The Congress — both Senate and House — has met 
the issue with wise foresight and with unfaltering 
courage. There was indeed exasperating delay — 
there was long and often unprofitable debate. We 
paid in full the penalty for that freedom of speech 
which we prize so highly. Worse than the delay was 
the timidity of some of our legislators, the stupidity 
of others, and the unpatriotic and even disloyal at- 
tempts of a small group, to block the programme of 
the President, and defeat the will of the people. 

But on the whole the progress was as rapid as 
could have been expected, and laws of great and far- 
reaching importance have been placed on the statute 
book. No American Congress has ever enacted such 
a mass of vitally valuable legislation. I need not 
attempt to epitomize the measures adopted. Suffice 
it to say they have demonstrated the unshakable de- 
termination of the Congress to employ the immense 
resources of our country without reserve to win this 
war for Liberty and Democracy. 

And the people of this Republic have loyally ac- 
cepted what has been enacted. The new principle 
that every man of military age owes military service 
to his country has been loyally recognized. Our 
young men have eagerly responded to the call to 
serve in our armies, and their kindred have given 
them to the cause without a murmur. 



102 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

The First Liberty Loan was largely over-sub- 
scribed. The immense sums advanced to our Allies 
have been approved. One hundred millions for the 
Red Cross work was given. Men not liable to ser- 
vice have eagerly given their services, often at great 
financial sacrifice. Our women have gone to work 
with patriotic zeal all over the land to supply the 
needs of our soldiers and sailors. Indeed the spirit 
of self-sacrifice has been nobly and widely shown. 

In a word, the great body of the people have 
shown a splendid spirit of devotion and loyalty to 
the great cause at stake. But a new situation has 
developed which challenges afresh the patriotism of 
Americans and emphasizes the call of my text, "Suf- 
fer no man to remain in the camp, hut let all come 
to the battle" 

There has been a sudden recrudescence of the 
spirit of opposition to the war manifesting itself in 
various forms. Some of this opposition is open and 
above board ; some of it is secret and underground. 
Some of it comes from honest but misguided men, 
some of it from traitors and friends of our enemy. 
It is in fact a motley crew. There are the pacifists 
of various hues — the timid pacifist; the blind and 
stupid pacifist; the wrong-headed pacifist; the hon- 
est conscientious objectors (a very small tribe) ; the 
sham conscientious objectors (much more numer- 
ous), who are really cowards, or disloyal. Some of 
those who openly or secretly oppose the war are 



THE DUTY OF THE HOUR 103 

weak-kneed, chicken-hearted, white-livered indi- 
viduals; some are disloyal men; some are out and 
out pro-Germans, men who apologize for the Huns 
and all their works; some are actually Germans, 
the subjects of the Kaiser, secretly plotting against 
America. 

You know to what lengths some of these men 
have gone — how they have opposed the military ser- 
vice law — how they have secretly plotted to shake 
the confidence of the people in the success of the 
war — how they have dragged down values in the 
stock market — how they have done their best to de- 
feat the Liberty Loan — ^how they have actually 
threatened the banks with the withdrawal of deposits 
if they should dare to invest in the Loan — ^how in 
one flagrant and notorious instance a public man, a 
legislator, has circulated hundreds of thousands of 
his disloyal speeches in which he assails the military 
service law — and these printed at the expense of the 
government he seeks to discredit. The air has been 
filled with whispers of peace talk — peace conferences 
— ^proposals to Germany to see what terms she would 
grant. 

This is why I say a new crisis has arisen in our 
national affairs, which demands of us a fresh asser- 
tion of our loyalty to the aims which we asserted 
when we entered the war and of our inflexible reso- 
lution to prosecute the war to a victorious end. 

Let us hear again the trumpet blast, "Suffer no 



I04 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

man to remain in camp, but let all come to the bat- 
tle'' and let us as Christian men and patriots re- 
spond to the call, every man and woman of us all, 
with the resolve to give ourselves to our country's 
service — withholding nothing, refusing no sacrifice ; 
and giving our best energies and our whole influence, 
to carry on this war to the utmost of our power, 
till America and her Allies shall completely prevail. 

I take it also that it is part of our duty to help 
form, a public opinion which will overwhelm with 
scorn and indignation the half-hearted men who 
would hinder America from putting forth her ut- 
most energy in the prosecution of the war; and the 
disloyal men who would obstruct the laws which 
have been enacted in order to harness our strength 
to this tremendous undertaking. 

I take it that we are all of us summoned to rebuke 
any proposal of a premature peace — assured that 
such a peace is a sham and a delusion, which would 
only call a truce for a brief term of years till war 
could again be let loose upon mankind in even 
greater violence than now. Yes, a premature peace 
means more war and worse war, more misery and 
sorrow by and by. 

We are disciples of the Prince of Peace, but we 
remember that He is first King of Righteousness 
and then King of Peace — and therefore we want a 
peace based on righteousness — a peace that secures 
justice and equity, and not a sham peace, that keeps 



THE DUTY OF THE HOUR 105 

the word of promise to the ear but breaks it to the 
hope. 

I take it that as Christian men we must not stay 
our hand in this war till justice is done, till Bel- 
gium and France and Servia, basely attacked and 
devastated with a barbarism unexampled in history, 
shall be not only delivered from their cruel invad- 
ers, but remunerated for their losses and rehabili- 
tated. 

I take it that it is our Christian duty to uphold 
our clear-eyed President in the determination to 
make no treaty with a government that is destitute 
of truth and honor and that has shown it has no re- 
gard for the sacredness of treaties — in other words, 
that we must not trust our liberties and the liber- 
ties of mankind to the pledges of the false and 
treacherous government that now rules Germany. 
No, the President is right, we can make no terms 
with Prussianism. It must be beaten to its knees; 
it must be crushed, if civilization is to be saved — if 
the world is to be made safe for Democracy. 

And, mark you, it is not the spirit of revenge, or 
the spirit of hate that dictates this resolve — it is the 
spirit of truth and justice and common sense. This 
evil thing that dominates the German Empire — that 
deceives and debases the German people, that has 
made their armies a scourge and an abomination, 
without mercy, without decency, without any of 
the principles of civilization or morality, I say this 



io6 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

evil thing must be killed as a mad dog is killed to 
protect the community. 

That is why we must resist any plea for any itv- 
decisive concliision of this war. For the sake of our 
own beloved country — for the sake of those brave 
nations who have been nobly fighting our battles — 
the battle of liberty for all mankind; yes, for the 
sake of the German people themselves who have 
been debased and degraded by the Prussian drill- 
master, we must smite down the monster which has 
trampled under foot every principle of right, every 
rule of civilization, every law of God. 

And we must do this as servants of the Living 
God, as Soldiers of the Cross, battling to estab- 
lish righteousness and justice in the world. 

One thing more. Do not he beguiled by the 
thought that the situation is so changed for the bet- 
ter that America will not be required to put forth 
all her strength to win the victory so imperatively 
needed. The strength of Germany is waning — yes, 
but she is still strong and determined and united. 
She is suffering for food and is growing economi- 
cally weaker; yes, but she is not starving yet, and 
Roumania and Turkey and Russia are supplying a 
large amount of food. There is discontent — much 
of it — and some are expecting a revolution against 
the tyranny of the Kaiser. True, but that in my 
opinion is a vain expectation. The Germans have 
had discipline drilled into them, and freedom and 



THE DUTY OF THE HOUR 107 

independence drilled out of them. There is not 
enough real virility in them to form the basis for a 
revolution. 

No, let us not deceive ourselves. The situation 
demands that America should put forth all her 
power and all her energy and throw all her im- 
mense resources into the scale, in order that a vic- 
tory, complete and overwhelming, may be achieved. 
Only by such a victory can liberty and Democracy 
be made safe in the world. Only by the absolute 
overthrow of Prussianism can a real and lasting 
peace be obtained. We do not want to embrace a 
false peace, which is really a future war masquerad- 
ing in the garb of peace, while she conceals a dag- 
ger in her bosom. 

Therefore, because we want a true peace, and a 
swift peace, we must gather up all our strength and 
grapple with this enemy of the human race with the 
grim determination to overthrow him and destroy 
him. And observe that this enemy is not the Ger- 
man people, but the German government — the mili- 
tarism of Potsdam — in a word, Prussianism. 

Again, I say the situation demands that every 
patriotic American, man or woman, should rally all 
his power to his country's flag. ''Suffer no man to 
remain in the camp, hut let all come to the battle." 

Finally, my brethren, and above all, I beg you to 
utilize the power of prayer in this great emergency. 
Our President has proclaimed Sunday next as a 



io8 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

day of prayer for the success of our arms and the 
restoration of peace. This is wise, this is well; and 
what makes it the more impressive is it is done in 
accordance with a request of Congress embodied in 
a joint resolution, adopted on the 4th of October. 

But fitting as is this united offering of the pray- 
ers of our people on this appointed day for the bless- 
ing of Almighty God on our armies and navies, it 
is not enough. What is needed is that every man 
and woman of us all should daily and nightly in 
his private devotions, make fervent supplication to 
our merciful God for his omnipotent help in this 
our time of need — with a lowly confession of our 
national sins — our unbelief, our ungodliness, our 
worldliness, our selfishness, our self-indulgence, our 
profanation of his holy day, our neglect of his holy 
church. 

And more than this, that we should pray ear- 
nestly, with heart and voice, with faith, with fervor, 
with something of Jacob's urgency, when he wres- 
tled with the angel and cried, '7 will not let thee go, 
except thou bless mef 

Our Divine Master has taught us to pray, ^'De- 
liver us from the evil one" — surely then we may 
pray to be delivered from this world-power, which 
is the embodiment of all evil, of all cruelty, of all 
wickedness. He has taught us to pray, "Give tis 
day by day our daily bread'' — surely then we may 
pray for sustenance and strength in this holy enter- 



THE DUTY OF THE HOUR 109 

prise of restoring peace and freedom to mankind. 

This continual, fervent prayer is one of the 
mightiest instruments for victory in this tremendous 
war. Let it be wielded by every citizen of our 
country. 

''Suifer no man to remain in the camp, but let all 
come to the battle/' 



IX 

GOD'S CALL TO AMERICA* 

"In the name of our God we will set up our banners" 
— Ps. 20. 5. 

One of the grounds for our national Thanks- 
giving has generally been that our country has en- 
joyed the blessings of peace. This year peace has 
fled from our land, and War is upon us — the most 
tragic, the most tremendous the world has ever 
known. And yet our chief magistrate calls us to 
observe our annual day of Thanksgiving as usual, 
with a chastened spirit indeed, but with a real and 
profound sense of gratitude for the blessings that 
are still ours, in spite of the anxiety and the suf- 
fering and the sacrifice that war has precipitated 
upon us. What then are some of these blessings 
which we thankfully recognize to-day? 

I might point to the immense harvests that have 
rewarded the labors of the husbandmen — I might 

♦Delivered in the Church of the Epiphany, Washington, 
D. C, Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 29, 1917. 

no 



GOD'S CALL TO AMERICA in 

dwell upon the health of our people — upon our free- 
dom from pestilence and sickness — or I might re- 
mind you of the general prosperity and the great 
wealth of the nation. 

But I ask you to raise your thoughts above the 
material sphere to the spiritual — I ask you to think 
of the spiritual blessings that are ours. Let us be 
thankful for the unity of spirit and purpose that 
are ours in so much greater degree than for many 
years past. Let us be thankful that the American 
people has at last recognized the high and holy duty 
of bearing its part in the great conflict for Liberty 
and Justice. Let us be thankful that our country 
has bravely resolved to devote its resources and its 
energies without reserve — its man-power and its 
money power, its material strength and its spiritual 
strength to the cause of Civilization and Humanity. 
And let us be thankful that in the Providence of 
God this Republic has so much power and so much 
strength to throw into the scale in such a tremen- 
dous crisis. 

Yes, we may indeed be thankful that America has 
such a glorious opportunity of serving mankind, 
and spreading abroad among the nations of the 
earth the principles of liberty and democracy upon 
which our government is founded. And again we 
are thankful because the American people have made 
such splendid response to the clarion call of our 
President on the 2d of April last to take their 



112 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

place in the ranks of the liberty-loving nations in 
the great crusade for the redemption of mankind 
from tyranny and wrong. Cheerfully and loyally 
the people accepted the law of Congress drafting 
our young men into the military service of the army 
and navy, because they recognized that it was based 
upon the democratic principle of the reciprocity be- 
tween privilege and service. 

Again cheerfully and loyally they have subscribed 
to two vast loans within six months, in all over 
eight billion dollars, in each case oversubscribing 
them, because they recognized that they were truly 
Liberty Loans, — loans to give the government 
power to strike mighty blows for the liberty of 
mankind. 

Once more how thankful are we that our young 
men, by hundreds of thousands, have cheerfully ac- 
cepted the obligation of the draft, and given them- 
selves with alacrity to the hardships and dangers of 
war for their country and for mankind, so that to- 
day we see an army of millions of citizen soldiers 
preparing for service on the battlefields of France. 

Nor is this all. Our hearts are stirred with thank- 
fulness by the response of millions more, who are 
not soldiers, — ^men whom the draft does not touch, 
but who have shown a splendid eagerness to serve 
their country, giving their time and their energies 
without remuneration, — in very many cases sur- 
rendering lucrative positions in order to do so — and 



GOD'S CALL TO AMERICA 113 

women — multitudes of them, all over the land ( God 
bless them!) working for the government, in the 
Red Cross, at the fiery front itself — eager to serve 
the country and the army and the navy, — and by 
their patriotism kindling a spirit of devotion which 
is as needful to victory as is the heroism of the men 
on the battlefield. 

These, my friends, are some of the things we have 
to be thankful for to-day — and when we think of 
them and realize what they mean, — realize that so 
many of our people have risen at one bound into 
the plane of unselfish devotion to a great ideal, leav- 
ing behind them the selfish and sordid aims and 
ambitions of the days of peace and safety, when 
"wealth accumulates and men decay'* — I think we 
may feel that we can celebrate our Thanksgiving 
Day in 191 7 with a truer and more profound sense 
of gratitude than for many, many years past. 

An eminent Bishop of the Church of England 
said to me last winter: "We are already thanking 
God for this war, with all its terrible losses and 
sacrifices, because we see that England was growing 
sordid and selfish — dominated by materialistic 
ideals." Well, I dare to say that we of America 
may thank God for this awful war for the same rea- 
son, because it has already kindled a flame of un- 
selfish patriotism that is sweeping with purifying 
power through our country — because it is raising 
our people out of commercialism and self-indulgence 



114 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

up to the high tableland of idealism and altruism. 
We will have to pay a great price in suffering and 
sacrifice for the spiritual results, — but it will be 
worth the price, if our people can be unified by the 
great struggle, — made one people with one civic 
faith, and one heart, beating high with love of truth 
and love of God, and love of mankind ; with love of 
justice and love of liberty, inspired by a spiritual 
rather than a material ambition. 

One more cause of thankfulness we have to-day 
to which I have not yet alluded — and it is a great 
one^ — we are thankful that America does not stand 
alone in this great enterprise to which she has de- 
voted herself. Those flags which are blended with 
our own Stars and Stripes in this church to-day 
proclaim that we have great and noble Allies in this 
holy crusade against tyranny and barbarism. Bel- 
gium is with us — Belgium who preferred crucifixion 
to dishonor — and Great Britain — glorious Britain — 
the mother of our civilization, the mother also and 
the defender of liberty — and France, magnificent 
France, whose heroic sons have added a new chap- 
ter to the epic story of human valor, — and Japan 
and Italy, and Servia and Roumania and Monte- 
negro and Greece and Portugal and Siam and San 
Marino. And in this Western Hemisphere we have 
as allies Cuba and Panama and Brazil, — Brazil, 
who in July, 191 6, nobly and boldly declared, "The 
tribunal of public opinion and conscience cannot 



GOD'S CALL TO AMERICA 115 

rest neutral between law and crime/* And ulti- 
mately we hope that all the Pan-American Repub- 
lics will be found arrayed with us in this great con- 
flict. 

You will agree with me that it is indeed a great 
cause of thankfulness that we have about us such 
an array of the nations of the earth in the tremen- 
dous conflict in which we are engaged — not only be- 
cause it assures us of ultimate victory — but because 
we see in this informal alliance — the alliance of 
hearts and aims and purposes — the prophecy and 
the hope of a united civilization — a union and co- 
operation of the nations of the civilized world for 
the promotion of justice and liberty among all man- 
kind, and the establishment and preservation of 
perpetual peace on earth. 

But if this day calls for thanksgiving it calls for 
something more. 

We are engaged in a great war — such a war as 
this Republic never waged before — so tremendous, 
of such vast proportions, and of such fearful im- 
port, that the mind is staggered in the attempt to 
grasp its significance. What then is the motive that 
impels us to such an enterprise? What are the 
principles which should govern us in its prosecu- 
tion? What is the spirit in which we should fight 
the battles before us? The words of the Plebrew 
Psalmist which I have chosen as my text give 



ii6 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

a clear and sufficient answer to these questions: 
'7w the name of our God we will set up our ban- 
ners!" 

America has entered this war ''in the name of 
God'^—m the name of God, I say, not in the name 
of ambition, or aggression, or revenge; not for 
power or for glory, or for commercial advantage, 
or for increase of territory; no, but for righteous- 
ness, for justice, for liberty, for the rights given us 
and given mankind by God. Who fights for jus- 
tice fights for God! Who fights against tyranny 
and cruelty fights for God! Who fights to rescue 
the weak and defenseless from the hands of the 
ruthless oppressor fights for God — and has the right 
to set up his banner in the name of God. 

I. Let us keep this fact clear in our minds, it is 
God who has summoned us to this war. It is His 
war we are fighting. Therefore, "in the name of 
our God we will set up our banners." This conflict 
is indeed a Crusade. The greatest in history — the 
holiest. It is in the profoundest and truest sense a 
Holy War, — a war to save all that is best and holi- 
est in civilization, a war to save mankind from the 
tiger claws of a cruel and remorseless power, which 
for now more than three years has shown itself 
destitute not only of honor and truth and loyalty to 
its plighted faith, but destitute also of humanity 
and mercy and regardless of the principles of mo- 
rality recognized among civilized nations. I gladly 



GOD'S CALL TO AMERICA 117 

echo the words of a young Englishman, an adopted 
citizen of America, writing from the trenches: 

"With the brutal roar of the first Prussian gun 
the cry came to the civilized world, 'Follow thou 
Me' just as truly as it did in Palestine." Yes, it is 
Christ the King of Righteousness who calls us to 
grapple in deadly strife with this unholy and blas- 
phemous power, which invokes the name of God 
while it is murdering women and children, and in- 
offensive citizens — while it is sinking hospital ships, 
— while it is dropping bombs on undefended cities, 
— while it is poisoning wells, — while it is carrying 
into cruel captivity hundreds of thousands of men, 
women and children, — while it is conniving at the 
massacre of a million of the Armenian people. Yes, 
above all this hideous atrocity, we hear the voice of 
this Antichrist, crying to his brutal soldiers, ''For- 
ward with Godr 

From this spectacle of horror and blasphemy we 
turn to the spectacle of those brave men who go 
marching to their Calvary — over the top — into No 
Man's Land, singing it may be a hymn, or it may 
be some doggerel like Tipperary, with a spirit equal 
to that of the Christian martyrs in the Colosseum — 
and when Death meets them they smile in his face 
because he has no terror for them when they are 
making the supreme sacrifice for country and for 
mankind. 

IL If any man demands how we can make war 



ii8 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

in the name of Christ, the Prince of Peace, let him 
remember those words of His, '7 came not to 
send peace but a sword." Yes, if He bids us love 
truth and righteousness. He also bids us hate false- 
hood and wrong and injustice and cruelty. And He 
calls us to fight against these things, not only by ar- 
gument but by the sword, when occasion arises. 
Remember the picture of the Christ given by reve- 
lation to St. John. "His eyes were as a flame of 
fire; and his feet like unto brass, as if they burned 
in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many 
waters. And he held in his right hand seven stars ; 
and out of his mouth went a sharp, two-edged 
sword; and his countenance was as the sun shineth 
in his strength." Rev. I: 14, 15, 16. 

This, I affirm with confidence, is not the picture 
of a pacifist Christ, but of a King of Righteous- 
ness who bums with indignation against wrong and 
oppression and cruelty, and who will give strength 
to the arms and courage to the hearts of our sol- 
diers and sailors in this fearful conflict against the 
confederated powers of Antichrist. Believe me 
there is no basis in the teaching of Christ for cow- 
ardly submission to invasion and tyranny. No, the 
Christian must stand at any cost for righteousness 
and justice and liberty, and when he hears the cry 
of the oppressed groaning under the bitter yoke of 
oppression; when he sees the armies of Antichrist 
invading peaceful and unoffending communities, 



GOD'S CALL TO AMERICA 119 

carrying fire and sword into once prosperous towns, 
— ^trampling humanity and civilization under his 
bloody feet, — then it becomes the Christian's duty 
as a follower of Christ to put forth all his strength 
to repel the invader and let the oppressed go free. 

This is the profound conviction of the heroic men 
who are standing in France and Flanders to-day as 
a bulwark against the destroying flood of Prussian- 
ism. Here are the words of one of these heroes: 
"The good Father has laid it on men to offer their 
life for an ideal. If we fought from blood-lust or 
hate, war would be sordid. But if we fight, as only 
a Christian may, that friendship and peace with our 
foes may become possible, — then fighting is our 
duty ; and our fasting and dirt, our wounds and our 
death, are our beauty and God's glory." 

And another writes to his family, "We've been 
carried up to the Calvary of the world where it is 
expedient that a few men should suffer that all the 
generations to come may be better." 

Oh the splendid, heroic, exalted spirit of thou- 
sands and thousands of those brave men ! Soldiers 
of Christ! filled with the spirit of self-denial, of 
self-sacrifice, — not driven to fight by fear of their 
officers, but offering themselves a willing sacrifice 
for country and for mankind, and in that self sur- 
render finding a peace of mind they never knew be- 
fore. It has been said of them that "they do not 
hate their foe, although they hate the things for 



I20 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

which he fights. They are fighting a clean fight 
with men whose courage they respect. A German 
prisoner who comes into the British camp is sure of 
good treatment. He is neither starved nor in- 
sulted." And more than this, there is sometimes 
seen as sublime an example of the fulfillment of the 
precept of Jesus, "Love your enemies," as history 
has ever recorded. Let me give one example. 
"During a fierce engagement a British officer saw a 
German officer impaled on the barbed wire, writhing 
in anguish. The fire was dreadful, yet he still hung 
there unscathed. At length the British officer 
could stand it no longer. He said quietly, T can't 
bear to look at that poor chap any longer!* So he 
went out under the hail of shell, released him, took 
him on his shoulders, and carried him to the German 
trench. The firing ceased. Both sides watched the 
act with wonder. Then the commander in the Ger- 
man trench came forward, took from his own 
bosom the Iron Cross, and pinned it on the breast 
of the British soldier." 

This beautiful instance of Christian chivalry re- 
veals the spirit that animates many of the brave men 
in the allied armies at the front. It is not hate that 
nerves their arms to such heroic deeds ; it is not re- 
venge ; it is not ambition ; it is not any material ad- 
vantage; no, but the conviction which the Spirit of 
God had written in their hearts that they are called 
to suffering and sacrifice in order that liberty and 



GOD'S CALL TO AMERICA 121 

justice may not perish from the earth. Again, 
then, let me say it, the spirit in which the American 
people should fight this war is the Spirit of the 
Psalmist in my text, — "In the name of our God we 
will set up our banners f 

We have entered on this war in the name of God, 
— because we feel that God summons us to take up 
the burden and the sacrifice. 

One of the delegates to the convention of the 
Federation of Labor said the other day, "This war 
* * * means more to us than any issue ever raised 
in the history of the human race." 

That statement is literally true. Never in the his- 
tory of the human race has there arisen so tre- 
mendous an issue. Justice, Liberty, Democracy, 
self-government are all at stake. Nor is that the 
full measure of the issue. Civilization is at stake — 
and humanity — and Christianity itself. For this 
brutal power of Prussianism is in league with the 
Turk; and has not only abandoned the obligations 
and duties of Christian morality, but has stifled the 
voice of conscience in the breasts of her soldiers, 
yes and of her women and children too, and has 
substituted the State for Almighty God as the final 
authority for the obedience of her people. 

in. One thing more let me here emphasize. As 
we gather round the Stars and Stripes to-day and 
make the words of the Psalmist our own, "In the 
name of our God will we set up our banners" let 



122 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

us remember how great is the honor and the privi- 
lege of being the instniments of Almighty God in 
this holy crusade; and let us resolve that we will 
strive to be worthy of so high a calling. 

America must set before herself a pure and lofty 
ideal. She must not stoop to anything low or sor- 
did or selfish. She must count no loss and no sacri- 
fice too great to achieve victory in this glorious en- 
terprise. She must consecrate all her energies and 
all her resources, to the last ship and the last man, 
to make democracy safe and to make liberty se- 
cure. And she must resolve, with an unshakable 
purpose, that she will never sheathe her sword till 
victory, full and complete, is won. Let her spurn 
every proposal for peace, however specious, how- 
ever plausible, that does not rest upon the final over- 
throw of Prussianism — ^the downfall of the Hohen- 
zollems. 

Let her keep before her the real and irreducible 
aim of the war as it has been so clearly and power- 
fully stated by our President, when he wrote: 

"The object of this war is to deliver the free 
peoples of the world from the menace and the actual 
power of a vast military establishment, controlled 
by an irresponsible government." 

Let her count as an enemy of the Republic any 
man who would persuade her to listen to any pro- 
posal of peace till the assassins of liberty have been 
humbled to the dust. She is waging war in order 



GOD'S CALL TO AMERICA 123 

that the world may have peace — a real peace, a 
peace that shall bless the world with its holy light 
for generations to come. Only for such a peace 
has she girded on her armor; but for such a peace 
she will give everything and sacrifice everything. 
She will limit her own freedom — she will bind her 
own limbs — she will temporarily suspend some of 
her own liberties. Her sons, by millions, shall be 
subject to military service. Yes, and if the Repub- 
lic thus lays her hand on our young men and sends 
them forth to hardship and wounds and death for 
the sake of liberty, will any man dare to say that 
she may not lay her hand on the laboring men of 
the country and bid them give their strength and 
their toil to mine the coal, and fell the timber and 
build the ships and make the cannon and the rifles 
and the munitions that are indispensable for vic- 
tory? Shall our soldiers in the trenches be beaten 
by the enemy because laboring men here at home go 
on strike and limit the output of munitions? Shall 
our transports be torpedoed and our brave regi- 
ments perish in the sea, because carpenters and ship- 
builders strike for higher wages, and stop the build- 
ing of the destroyers that protect our ships from the 
submarines ? 

Will a great, free democratic country tolerate 
such shameful, and disastrous, selfishness? Will 
not the people rise up and say to the government, 
"You have conscripted our sons and our grandsons 



124 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

to fight your battles, — now then conscript the labor 
of the land to build your ships and to make the 
munitions which are necessary to win the war, — do 
this rather than allow the winning of the war to be 
delayed by these selfish and unpatriotic strikes !" 

My Brethren, as I have been speaking to-day my 
mind has been recalling the events and the feelings 
of the last two years. 

Very different was the situation when I had the 
privilege of addressing you on the Thanksgiving 
Day of 191 5. At that time the outlook was indeed 
disheartening to every true-hearted American. The 
Lnsiiania had been ruthlessly torpedoed six months 
before; in the period after that infamous crime 
Germany had continued to outrage every prin- 
ciple of humanity, and had not hesitated to insult 
the majesty of the Republic. I ventured to declare 
— what has since been proved absolutely true — that 
the Embassies of Germany and Austria were nests 
of conspiracy against the peace and dignity of the 
United States — where plots were hatched to foment 
strikes, to blow up our public buildings, to assassi- 
nate our citizens, to bum our factories, to destroy 
our ships. 

In view of all this I urged that the honor and 
dignity of the Republic required that we should de- 
mand the recall of these plotters and conspirators 
who, wearing the livery of foreign nations, and 



GOD^S CALL TO AMERICA 125 

accepted as representatives of friendly powers, had 
been using their diplomatic positions as bases for 
waging war secretly against the peace of our coun- 
try. I further urged that the sentiment of the coun- 
try demanded that we should take our stand, by 
official expression of sympathy, if no more, on the 
side of the great Democracies who were really fight- 
ing our battles against autocratic tyranny ; and thus 
throw the immense weight of our moral influence 
into the scale on the side of humanity and law and 
liberty. And then I pointed out that at whatever 
cost something should be done to vindicate the honor 
of our country and to restore to the name of Ameri- 
can citizen the respect it had already lost among the 
nations of the earth. 

But it seems that the hour for action had not yet 
struck. Another year passed, and we met again 
in this house of God on Thanksgiving Day, 19 16, 
only to face a state of public affairs as bad, or worse, 
than in 191 5. Germany was carrying on the war 
with the same barbarity and cruelty. We saw sol- 
emn treaties still ruthlessly violated ; peaceful coun- 
tries invaded ; the invaders carrying fire and sword 
wherever they went; cities given to the flames; ca- 
thedrals laid in ashes ; inoffensive and unarmed citi- 
zens shot to death; women and children murdered 
by the Zeppelins, those assassins of the air; every 
conceivable outrage committed; and then to all her 
other outrages against civilization was added the 



126 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

infamous crime of enslaving the Belgian population 
by hundreds of thousands, — women as well as men. 

All this — and still our own America stood with 
folded arms — not even protesting before High 
Heaven against the barbarity — the savagery — the in- 
justice she witnessed — standing in an attitude of 
neutrality! My friends, when I thought of all this 
my heart burned within me, and I declared in this 
pulpit that that attitude of moral neutrality was 
unworthy of us, — that it was a betrayal of our trust 
— ^that to continue it would be to stifle our moral 
judgment. 

I could not repress the warning that sprang to 
my lips; I told you that we were facing a peril 
more serious than war — the peril of an atrophied 
moral nature. You may recall that I declared my 
belief that if we should go on witnessing acts of 
cruelty without condemning them, — crimes against 
liberty without protesting against them — outrages 
against humanity without denouncing them — ^the 
crucifixion of innocence without crying out in hor- 
ror against it, — our moral nature would lose its 
fiber, our moral judgment would cease its office, our 
conscience would become seared as with a hot iron, 
— our soul would become cold and sordid and selfish. 

But still the hour for action had not come. An- 
other four months passed — and meantime the un- 
speakable submarine horror had been rousing the 
indignation of mankind to a white heat. Congress 



GOD^S CALL TO AMERICA 127 

was summoned to meet on the 2nd of April to con- 
sider and act upon the tragic situation. The night 
before that day of fate, it was again my privilege to 
address you, at the very time when a great proces- 
sion of pacifists was to take place in the streets of 
Washington, — and I did not hesitate to say, as a 
messenger of God, speaking in His holy name, that 
it was the high and sacred duty of the American 
people to take up the gage of battle which Germany 
had thrown down to us, and to prosecute the war 
against her with all our energy and with all our 
power till victory should be won. I showed you 
that the German leaders had committed themselves 
to the vast scheme of making their Empire domi- 
nant over the whole earth — and that the real mean- 
ing of the war was a fight to the death between a 
tyrannous autocracy on the one hand, and Liberty 
and Democracy and self-government on the other. 
And then I sought to impress upon you the fact that 
our liberties are involved in this struggle, and that 
the issue of it would determine whether America 
should become a vassal of Germany, or should con- 
tinue a free, self-governing Republic. And finally 
I urged that the voice of God was calling us to this 
war, to be His instrument in saving Liberty and 
Civilization and Christianity itself. 

All this I said in the confidence that the American 
people had at last awakened to the true issue, and 
that their President and their Congress would 



128 FOR GOD AND COUNTRY 

speedily summon them to take up their share of the 
burden of the conflict with Germany. 

In this I was not mistaken. The very next day 
the President, in a powerful and ever memorable ad- 
dress, called upon the Congress to declare that a 
state of war existed between the United States and 
Germany; and a few days later, on Good Friday, 
April 6th, war was declared and the great Republic 
of the West took her stand with the other free 
democracies of the world to resist the assaults of 
the Prussian monster upon liberty and justice, up- 
on civilization and humanity. 

With what profound gratitude, my fellow citi- 
zens, may we this day contemplate the change in 
the attitude of our beloved country! "Gratitude," 
will any one exclaim, "because we are at war!" 
Yes, I reply, sincere gratitude, because at last Amer- 
ica has thrown away the flimsy cloak of cowardly 
neutrality, and stepped forth into the arena as a 
champion of Liberty and Justice, answering the cry 
of Belgium and France and Serbia for deliverance 
from the tyranny and the cruelty of the Hun. 

Yes, yes, in spite of the burden of suffering and 
sacrifice that war entails, we do thank God, that the 
conscience of the nation has responded to the Divine 
call to save Civilization and Himianity from cruci- 
fixion by barbarous and ruthless hands. 

No man can now say that our policy is governed 
by counsels of timidity or international opportun- 



GOD'S CALL TO AMERICA 129 

ism ; — no, but by the aspirations and ideals that in- 
spired our Revolutionary fathers, — by a high re- 
solve to uphold the honor and the majesty of the 
Republic, by a brave and generous determination 
to take our stand by the side of those liberty loving 
peoples who are being trampled in the dust by the 
ruthless legions of German tyranny. No American 
need now fear that his flag will trail in the dust! 
No American citizen need now hesitate to lift up his 
head with pride before the whole world! 

No, we behold a new Anierica, brave, resolute, 
consecrated with all her energies to save mankind 
from the merciless claws of Prussianism, — ready 
for any suffering and for any sacrifice that may be 
needed to crush this military autocracy, and to re- 
store peace to the world. She has drawn the sword, 
without one sordid or selfish motive — she is fighting 
for love of liberty, for love of justice, for love of 
peace. Her sword is stainless. Her shield is with- 
out a blemish. Never has she battled for so great 
or so holy a cause, and never has she been so highly 
resolved to be worthy of the exalted task to which 
the voice of God has called her. This is her solemn 
resolve : "In the name of our God, we will set up our 
banners!" 



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